


The Call of the Sea

by Red_Ce



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Blood, Fluff, I would die for Lance's sister, Insecure Lance (Voltron), M/M, Mermaid!Shiro, Missing Keith, Mutual Pining, Pining Lance (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), Shiro gets nicer I promise, Sibling Bonding, imposter syndrome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-18 17:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13104693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Ce/pseuds/Red_Ce
Summary: Lance watched the surface grow farther and farther away, bubbles rising all round, spiraling toward the sky. The waves pulled at his hair to surround his face, strands tickling his lips and freckles. His heartbeat pounded loud in his ears. His heart pulled him down. His fingertips pulled him down. His inadequacy pulled him down. He was drowning in it all.Then- a flash to his right. Something grey and sleek. Lance righted himself, terror taking hold of his body for two infinite seconds.Prey, his subconscious whispered to him.To whatever this creature is, you are prey.Lance is insecure and loves the water. Shiro is a carnivorous merman who probably wants to eat him. They meet, and bond.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on here, so enjoy! It was written as a gift for @justyourcommontrashbag on tumblr

“Whatever you do, do not go down to the cove under the cliff, where the rocks are sharp and the sand is gray. No good will come of it.” Lance’s grandmother held his gaze. “And do not, under any circumstances, swim in that water. I am serious, love, that beach will not welcome you.” 

Lance sighed. His Nana never let him have any fun. “Yes, Nana. But can I at least ask wh-”

“She’s not filling your head with those vague warnings again, is she?” Lance’s mother passed with a box, bumping him with her hip. “Don’t listen to her dear, she’s only trying to scare you. And Mother, do stop telling Lance stories or he’ll be afraid to leave the house before long.” 

His Nana humphed. Lance ran after his mom, delighted. “Does that mean I can go down to that beach for a swim?” He couldn’t wait, the water looked too good to pass up!

She turned, and fixed him with a stare. “No dear, I’m afraid not. Your Nana may go for the spooky way of warning you, but those rocks are sharp and it’s too far away for me to keep an eye on you. Besides, there’s a perfectly good beach right in front of our house. Swim there, once we’ve finished unpacking.” 

Lance paused, then shrugged. Oh well, at least that was something. He ran out of the room, then stood aside as his older sister, Aleja, passed through the door. “Lance, grab the last few boxes, will you? And you should listen to Mom, there’s been a couple shark sightings around there. You’re so small, you’d barely be a bite for them!” She laughed, ruffling his hair. He pouted, indignant. He was strong! He could fight off a couple sharks, no problem! He’d show them-

“Lance, get out here and help us unload!!” 

He ran outside, joining his dad in carrying in the last few boxes. Moving into a new house was so exciting! He couldn’t wait to make friends, and swim, and explore, and- “Get your head out of the clouds, Lance, we gotta take a family picture!” Aleja smirked, and Lance pouted. Pictures were so annoying. Still, he trooped outside with his family, and smiled when his dad set the camera on a timer and rushed to get in the picture. With Aleja wrapping her arms around him on one side and his mother and Nana on the other, he knew he was already home.

\--------------

Nine years had passed since then. Lance grinned, looking at the photo his family had taken in front of the then-new house. He was so _small_ at eight years old. His Nana was still giving vague warnings, eyeing him shrewdly whenever he went to swim. Such trust. He never had gone down to that cove, though it was easily visible from the top of the bluff that stood a little ways from his house.

No, he had kept his swimming to the small beach in front of the house. Had stayed away from the “shark infested waters”. Even though sharks were unlikely in this area. Even though sharks were pretty damn cool. There was something about his grandmother’s eyes that made him hesitate whenever he contemplated going. Whenever he needed time to think.

He fell back onto his bed. He liked the west coast, he really did. But sometimes he wished for beaches that were more than rock and ground up shells, water that was bearable for more than a month or two in the warmest season, and sun. God, he missed the _sun_. Like, actual sun and warmth that wasn’t filtered through three layers of clouds at any given moment. He wasn’t homesick, per se- no, it was just that when it rained for weeks on end, Cuba’s sunny beaches grew rather appealing. The rain had wormed its way into his heart, though. The ocean, too. Different from the warmth and calm of his early childhood, its slate gray storming called to him. Especially when it matched how he felt- 

“Laaaaaaaance get down here!” Lance groaned. Nine years later, and his sister was still bossing him around. Loudly. She could have had the decency move away after she finished high school, he thought, thudding down the stairs in a way that brought to a very small elephant. But noooooo, she had to stay and help Nana, and all the expectations for college and good grades and a fancy job fell to him. And on top of that, she used her 23 years as a point of superiority. 

“What is it?!” he yelled back, only a room away now.

“Hunk’s here to see you!” Ah. Embarrassing. All previous statements retracted, his sister was kind and loving, a veritable goddess. 

“Tell him I’ll be right there!” he called, walking through to the door. Hunk was shifting on the doorstep, a stack of books and papers in his arms. He grinned broadly when he saw Lance, and tried to wave before remembering his hands were otherwise occupied.

“Hey buddy! I came over to see if you wanted to study for that big AP Physics test we have in a couple days? I’m freaking out and I’m pretty sure you are too. Otherwise there’s no way you’re human.” 

Lance groaned and slumped against the doorframe. “Don’t remind me, that’s been hanging over my head all weekend. Maybe I’ll just fake sick or something that day.”

“Yeah, but then you’d still have to make it up, and the anticipation would kill you,” Hunk said, pushing his way into the house. 

“I’m pretty sure that test will kill me anyways.” Lance followed as Hunk set his books on the table, and Aleja poked her head in. 

“Do you guys want anything? Nana and I just made cookies and they’re pretty good, if I do say so myself. Lance, if you want any take them now because after Hunk’s gone I won’t be so nice.” Hunk laughed while Lance pouted dramatically. 

“Rude. Yeah, we’ll take some.” Aleja grinned and brought a plate in, smacking Lance’s hand when he reached for them before Hunk. She always showed her favoritism in the most annoying ways. The cookies, he hated to say, were delicious. Unfortunately, after they were gone there was no avoiding it. The stack of books and papers taunted him from the corner of his eye. He put his head on the table and groaned. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Oh well, nothing for it. He grabbed the first book his hand landed on, flipped to a random page, and started reading out loud. “In a chemical reaction where heat is gained or lost, the masses of the reactants and the products will be different. Even when the water is heated on…” Hunk grabbed the book out of his hand. 

“Dude, chill. We haven’t even gotten to that unit yet. Let’s start at the beginning for review, yeah?” 

 

Sometime later, when Lance’s brain was pretty much melted into mush, he heard the distinct sound of a car in the driveway. Looked at Hunk. Hunk looked back at him quizzically until- understanding. A beatific smile spread over his face 

“Oh boy oh boy is that-”

“Yeah it is, come on.” They raced out the door. The car stopped. The door opened. And out came…

“Mateo!!” The seven year old boy’s head popped up and, seeing Hunk and Lance, he beamed. He ran and launched himself into Hunk’s arms, who picked him up and spun him around. Lance was next, and when that hugging was done Mateo flung himself at Hunk again for a real hug. Hunk smiled at Lance over Mateo’s head, and Lance’s heart melted, right then and there. Everyone loved Hunk (it was impossible not to, really), but Mateo adored him, and the feeling was mutual.

“How was your soccer match?”

A gap-toothed grin. “Amazing! We won, and I scored the final goal!”

“Wow, that’s great! I’m so proud of you!”

His mom stepped out of the car next, and laughed to see Mateo still clinging to Hunk. “Let the poor boy go, I’m sure he and your big brother are very busy.” Mateo pouted, but did as he was told. They all trooped inside, Lance and Hunk plunking down at the table again. To get back to studying. Ugh. He was so done. 

“Look at you studying so hard, dear.” His mother kissed the top if his head. “I know you’ll do so well on that test. You’re so smart, you hardly need to study!” Lance's stomach dropped. Him, smart. Right. 

 

Hunk left. The sun began to sink in the sky. Lance couldn’t bring himself to read one more word, do one more problem. They weighed at him, the expectations dragging his fingertips to the earth. So he did what he always did. He walked out of the house, down to the shore. Stood for a minute on the shell-sand beach. Waded forward into the icy water to which he had become so accustomed. Swam out, far. Let himself sink. 

Lance watched the surface grow farther and farther away, bubbles rising all round, spiraling toward the sky. The waves pulled at his hair to surround his face, strands tickling his lips and freckles. His heartbeat pounded loud in his ears. His heart pulled him down. His fingertips pulled him down. His inadequacy pulled him down. He was drowning in it all.

Then- a flash to his right. Something grey and sleek. Lance righted himself, terror taking hold of his body for two infinite seconds. _Prey_ , his subconscious whispered to him. _To whatever this creature is, you are prey._

He swam up. Quickly, quietly. Calmly. _Can they smell fear? Can they hear the blood pounding in my veins?_ Lance broke the surface and gasped, turning and stroking for land, thanking whatever God out there that the tide was going in and he hadn’t swam as far out as he could have. 

A ripple to his right. He wasn’t thinking of every stupid horror movie involving sharks his friends had dragged him to. Wasn’t thinking of the shark documentaries he’d watched as a kid. Tried not to imagine what teeth would feel like in his leg, or arm, or torso. He tried. 

At last, solid ground under his feet, all limbs intact, a stumbling run away from the water. When Lance finally looked back, a good twenty feet from the breaking waves, he saw nothing. No circling fin, no unnatural ripples, no looming teeth. He almost felt silly for his panic, but- he’d been there. He’d seen _something_. Granted, not enough to actually describe what it was, but he trusted his gut. And his gut said that whatever had been there was decidedly not friendly.

...

Lance hadn’t swum in three days. He’d waded in, no farther than his waist, but it wasn’t the same. His coping mechanism was basically crippled, and he was a mess. To make matters worse, the important test for AP Physics was today. And ~~Lance you’re so smart~~ he had to do well.

Hunk walked next to him down the hallway, looking at him sympathetically. He had the test today too, but he didn’t have his entire family’s pressure and expectations riding on him to do perfectly. Lance felt someone come up behind him. He turned, then looked down, and saw a familiar, if not friendly, face.

“Pidge, you look like hell.” 

“Thanks.” 

Hunk looked at her worriedly. “You weren’t up all night studying for the test, were you?”

Pidge kept her eyes to the floor. “No, but I did study a lot. It’s just…”

“Yeah?”

“A friend of mine, Keith, he disappeared the night before last. He doesn’t have his phone and there aren’t any leads as to where he might be. I’m just really worried.”

Lance pulled her into a hug. She wasn’t much for physical contact usually, but he was pretty sure this was a special case. His mind flashed unbidden to his scare four days earlier. No, it couldn’t be.

Pidge tolerated the hug for a couple more seconds before pulling away and turning to continue walking. Lance and Hunk followed, feeling their doom encroach at every step closer to the classroom. They entered the room. Sat down. He fiddled with his pencil. The test was handed out. He looked down. And began. 

 

Lance slouched home. He was mush. Maybe he could change his name and become an isolated sheep herder in Iceland. He didn’t want to think about anything, least of all the test he was sure he had bombed. He wanted to swim. He wanted to forget. But that goddamned fear kept him from doing anything of the sort. It began to rain. 

It had been building all day, clouds growing and towering over each other, the sort of downpour that was like a breath held, then released. It was absolution. It was kind. It washed away any thoughts he might have had, gentle in it’s fury. He let out a sigh, full of relief or pain or sadness. Without meaning to, his feet turned from the direction of his house, brought him to the path that led up to the bluff that overlooked the ocean, led him up, closer and closer to the sky and the raging sea. 

He sat on the bluff and did not look down, for once. Did not so much as glance to the banned cove. Just closed his eyes and tilted his head to the sky, letting the rain fall on his face furiously, tenderly. Let the noise of the downpour and the sea drown out the noise of his life. _If I were to leave, I would miss this_. The thought flashed across his mind, quick as a whip. It surprised him. He knew he had begun to like the rain; he hadn’t realized the extent to which he had started to love it. He opened his eyes and drank in the sight of the imposing gray clouds. He did not look down.

If he had, perhaps many things would have been very different. Or perhaps not.

Time passed. The rain slowed to a gentle mist. Lance picked himself up and brought himself home. Walked in the door. Climbed the stairs to his room. Flopped onto his bed. He was calm. Everything wasn’t better, his anxieties hadn’t left, but he could close his eyes and let go the rushing worry in his brain, at least for a little while.

...

Lance’s family sat around the table. It was not quiet. Mateo waved his fork, caught up in an enthusiastic discussion with Aleja. His father teased Nana about the new hat she had bought. It certainly was… interesting. The feather was a nice touch. His mother, however, was uncharacteristically grave. He eyed her throughout the time it took to finish the first helping on his plate, and halfway through the second. His dad kept the corner of his gaze trained on her during the breaks in his discussion. His mom drew in a breath and set her fork down with a clink. Conversation stopped immediately. All except for poor Mateo, who kept on chattering excitedly until realising, rather abruptly, that he was the only one talking. His sentence trailed off quickly after that. Lance had to stifle a grin behind his hand.

His mom turned and trained an intense look on him. Lance’s heart sank before even knowing what she was going to say. Whatever that look heralded, it wasn’t good. “Lance, I don’t want you swimming anymore.” A beat of silence. Two. 

“ _What!?_ ” Lance was only dimly aware of the fact that he was standing and his chair had clattered backwards. “Why not?! You can’t just ban me from swimming!” 

“Lance, sit down.” His father’s voice, grave and quiet. He sat. 

“Why not?” he repeated, quieter this time. 

His mother sighed. “A boy went missing recently. His tracks led down to the water, but didn’t come out again. No body’s been found, but police are pretty sure he’s…” She trailed off. Looked down. “He hasn’t been found, okay? People are thinking it could have been a shark or something similar. I just want you to be careful.” 

Lance's stomach clenched. His hands turned to ice. _A shark or something._ He tried not to think about the last time he swam, the flash of smooth gray in his peripheral vision. Then the rest of his brain caught up. _A missing boy… Oh no, it couldn’t be Pidge’s friend Keith, could it? Oh no._ He resolved to bring her cookies. And hugs. And- dammit.

He nodded mutely. “Yeah, okay, I won’t swim. I don’t want to be eaten by a shark. I’d probably give it a stomachache. I’m too boney to be delicious.” He tried for a smile, but it came out looking weak and wan. His mom looked surprised. She probably wasn’t expecting him to agree that quickly. She nodded once, sharply. Looked to Mateo and Aleja.

“That means you guys too. I don’t want any of you swimming.” 

“Awwwwww,” Mateo complained. A sharp look shut him up quickly. Aleja just nodded, looking down at her plate. He could see the distraught look on her face. 

A small hmph drew his attention to the other side of the table where his Nana sat. She had a solemn, yet triumphant glint in her eye. “What did I tell you? The water isn’t safe. Especially not the water by that cove.” They all looked at her for a minute. She shrugged. “I was right, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.” Not having anything to say to that, dinner continued in silence.

...

The next day, the sun rose, bringing with it a rise in anxiety for Lance. Tests were going to be handed back today, and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. His family was resting their hopes on him, sure he would be the one to go to college and make them proud. He had to do well. What if this was the test where they found out? Where they learned he wasn’t actually smart after all, where he, Lance, was exposed for the fraud he was. He knew he shouldn’t have taken AP Physics, he didn’t belong in that class, that was only for _real_ intelligent people, not him-

“Lance, you lump, get up or you’ll be late for school!” His sister, again. It took a monumental effort to drag himself out of bed, his brain sticking to the pillow, saying, _no it’s fine I’d rather just stay here for today, thank you very much_. He gritted his teeth, gave a herculean push, and rolled to the floor. Great. He lived here now.

Footsteps stomped up the stairs. His door slammed open. Aleja bent over him, a wicked grin on her face, her curly brown hair tickling his forehead. “I heard that thump all the way from downstairs. That had to have hurt. Now, if you won’t actually get up I’ll have to resort to extreme measures.” Lance gave a flat stare. Her grin turned positively menacing. “Alright, I warned you.”

Without further preamble, Aleja began tickling him. He shrieked, scrambling to get away. “No no I concede see I’m up I’m up I’m up!” She chased him down the stairs, hands outstretched for his sensitive sides. She was laughing so hard it was a miracle she didn’t fall over. Twenty minutes, twelve glares, and no skincare routine later, Lance was out the door. It wasn’t until he was nearly at school that it dawned on him that Aleja had successfully distracted him from overthinking. A small smile curved his lips. 

Hunk gave him a smile that looked like he was on the verge of throwing up when he walked into the classroom. Pidge honestly didn’t look much better, face pale (paler than usual, at least), hair a mess (again, more so than usual). As promised, he brought her cookies, and she offered a wan smile in return, but said nothing. Lance didn’t really blame her. 

The moment of truth approached. The teacher gathered up the stack of tests and began handing them out. The first row. The second row. The third row. Lance’s, the fourth, row. The girl next to him’s paper landed on her desk. Lance’s paper drifted down to his. It was an instant that seemed to stretch out forever. He turned it over. His stomach dropped. 

A bright red 33/40 was circled at the top of his page. A “B”. He had gotten a “B”. His eyes frantically scanned that paper, taking in all the stupid, stupid mistakes he had made. A “B”. It was good, he supposed, for other students, the test had been hard, but he had to do better. What would his mom say? She had thought he was so smart, that would all be ruined now, what was he going to do? The thoughts raced through his head, one after the other after the other. What an idiot Lance had to have been, to think he could possibly do well. His stomach hurt.

After class Hunk came up to him, a cheery smile on his face. “That actually didn’t go as bad as it could have! I think all that studying we did helped, thanks Lance.” Lance gave a noncommittal grunt, hunching up his shoulders. He just wanted to go home. He pushed out the door, but not before catching a glimpse of the neat, perfect 40/40 circled on Pidge’s paper.

 

Lance took that back. He didn’t want to go home. He colossally, desperately, did not want to go home. He didn’t want to have to face his mom’s eventual disappointment, see his brother’s smile fall off his face, see Aleja try to act like everything was fine. He couldn’t stand the thought of any of it, couldn’t stand being trapped in a house full of his failure with no way to escape. So he didn’t go home. And, for the first time in 17 years, he disobeyed his grandmother.

...

The path down to the cove was rocky, with overgrown bushes competing to push away the open space. Lance nearly turned his ankle multiple times scrambling down the steep slope, loose pebbles and dirt threatening to pull his feet from under him. His mind was full, too full, and yet empty as the space between the stars at the same time. He couldn’t think. He was thinking too much. He should have done better. He wasn’t smart enough to have done better. He-

The trail opened up before him. The cove was small. Bigger than it looked from the top of the cliff, but small nonetheless. The slick black rocks towered, marching down to the water on the edges before giving way to gray-white shell-sand and pebbles in the middle. Barnacles crept up the sides. They were the ancient kind, huge, the size of a cat’s paw. The biggest barnacles he’d seen were the size of his thumbnail, but these- they looked like they hadn’t been touched by human hands for years. He’d skinned his knees and palms enough times on the smaller variety that he shuddered to think what the larger ones would do. The smell of brine invaded his nose, much more concentrated than the clean salt air on the top of the bluff. The waves crashed against the rocks, echoing against the walls of the cliffs, drowning out thought and the whistling wind. As wild as it was, it was also peaceful. Calming. Private. 

Lance clambered up one of the tallest rocks, one with a flattish top, and just sat. He stared out over the water and let the push and pull of the waves set his mind at ease. There was, of course, the niggling feeling in the back of his brain that told him he really really _really_ shouldn’t have disobeyed his Nana, but it was largely ignored in favor of his wonder at this place. It was so secret, so personal, so out of the way and private; it was exactly what he needed. But more than that, it was lovely. This place truly felt like home. 

So he sat. And let himself go. And if a few tears were shed, well, no one had to know. The sun was reaching the point in the sky where it began its true descent into dusk when it happened. A ripple in the water. At first it was hardly noticeable, simply a part of the choppiness of the waves. But it happened again. And again. And again, in too regular a pattern for it to be a natural occurrence. Lance’s heart stopped in his chest. 

_A flash of gray, heart-stopping terror, a frantic, smooth swim to the shore._ He shook his head. No, there was no way the shark, or whatever it was, would be this close to shore. It just wasn’t plausible. His heart calmed. Persistently, in the back of his mind, was his Nana’s voice. _You shouldn’t have come_ , it said. _You really should not have come._ He thought about that boy who disappeared into the water, Pidge’s friend Keith. Had the thing that scared Lance actually gotten him, or had he simply swam, and drowned, or swam, far far away where nobody would ever find him? Just said _fuck it_ , and left? That’s what Lance wanted to think. That Keith wasn’t dead, but far away from his troubles. Yeah, right.

The ripples were back. The fear was back. Lance stared at the ocean, resolve wavering. Maybe his Nana was right. Maybe he shouldn’t have come. He should probably get up and leave, right now, forget that he ever came down here. He was about to, but-. But. The cove really was lovely, and he was on land, so therefore safe. And not to mention, more than a little curious. It would be fine if he stayed, right? Just to see what was causing the ripples. It probably wasn’t even what he had seen the other day. He didn’t want to have to climb back up the trail so soon, anyway. Even to Lance’s ears, they sounded a lot like excuses. But he stayed. 

So when the head, the _human_ head, rose out of the water, all black eyes and black hair and gray-tinted skin, when it _smiled_ at him with teeth that were far, far too sharp, Lance was there. Saw the human arms as they reached above water. Saw the scarred human torso as it rose up, up. Saw the tail, a deep, deep indigo, with fins along the side and _scales_ , as it dove under the waves again. Lance saw it all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get to meet Shiro in this chapter, along with some good sibling bonding™️. Happy reading!

On that rock, the world reordered itself for Lance. _Not possible,_ insisted his brain. _Right there,_ said his eyes. He couldn’t move. His very blood was frozen. He saw the ever-widening ripples in the place where the mermaid, no, hallucination had been. But it wasn’t a hallucination. Because there it was again. A head, followed by a torso, and distorted under the water, a tail. Maybe Lance had finally cracked from all of the stress, because if this was a hallucination, it was a very real one. Water droplets made their slow way down his chest ( _Nice,_ commented the part of his brain that needed to get its shit together. _Shut up_ , said the part of him that still had a small shred of common sense left). Lance stared. It simply wasn’t possible. 

The mermaid (merman?) smiled at him again. It was not a nice smile. Not the sort of smile one might expect to see on Ariel’s face. No, it was a full blooded shark’s smile. The kind that said “Let me eat you alive while you struggle.” Except that wasn’t quite what was said. 

“My name is Shiro. Do you want to come swim with me?” 

Aaaaaaand that was it for Lance. He was done. Okay, fine, mermaids might exist. The world was weird and oceans were ridiculously deep and mysterious, so it was plausible if not probable. But this? One that could speak in this language? Ridiculous. Utterly and completely impossible. And yet here he was. 

“So? What do you say?” The smile hadn’t left his- _Shiro’s_ \- face. The teeth- those were not human teeth. Those were predator’s teeth, through and through. Lance found his vocal cords again.

“What would happen if I get into the water? Let me guess, I’d be dinner for a certain sea creature. Thanks, but no thanks.” He was glad to know that even terrified out of his wits, he still had sass. The mermaid pouted. It was cute. Sort of like a lion purring right before it ate you. 

“What are you talking about? We’d just swim, have a little fun. If you happen to drown, that’s not my fault.”

“You know, I think I’ll pass.” 

“I’ve been watching you, though. In the water, the first time I saw you, I could practically taste your fear. It was delicious. Too bad you left so quickly. And up on the top of that tall land, you looked so sad and lonely. If you came with me you wouldn’t have to worry about anything again. Wouldn’t that be nice?” Lance felt chills run up and down his spine. This thing had been in the water with him, had been the presence that had scared him so much. He had thought it was a shark. It was far more sinister. And it had seen him, crying up on the bluff. It repulsed him. 

“You’d eat me!” All pretence of friendliness dropped from the mermaid’s face. 

“Yes.” The cold, flat look made Lance’s joints lock up with terror. This- _thing_ was a killer. It would destroy Lance without mercy or feeling. He had to get out of here.

He almost couldn’t make his body move, the “fight or flight” response shut down in favor of the “rabbit who sees a hawk” reaction. After an enormous effort of will, he stood, legs shaking beneath him. He didn’t turn, didn’t want to put his back to the predator before him. It followed him with its eyes. He backed away to the trailhead, then turned and ran. He scrambled, slipping, scraping his knees, panic finally overtaking his body until he stumbled through the door of the house. The creature’s parting words echoed behind him. 

“You’ll join me in the water one day, you’ll see.”

...

He had forgotten. With everything that happened, the cove, the _merman_ , he had forgotten about the AP Physics test. And now he was faced with his mom’s bright face, asking him how he did. He didn’t want to tell her how he did. Didn’t want to disappoint her. Most of all, didn’t want to think about school at all, wanted to go to his bedroom and _process_. A merman. An honest to God hybrid with a tail and a face and a _smile_ that wanted very much to eat him. He needed to think.

Of course it wasn’t that simple. Lance’s mom called him for dinner, and as much as he wanted to shut himself away and never come back out again, _ever_ , he dragged himself to the table. Aleja sat next to him.

“Hey kiddo, how you doing?” Her smile was soft and dangerously kind, letting Lance know that her distraction that morning (was it really just that morning?) had been purposeful. It hit him like a truck. As the oldest, she knew the weight of expectations. She had probably been through this very same thing when she was still in school. Holding up her family’s hopes. She just, oh Lance didn’t know, she was just braver than him, stronger than him, cared a little less than him. But when she chose a different path, they didn’t tear her apart. Just moved their expectations to him, the weight of them doubled. But he couldn’t do that. Couldn’t let his family down, only to have them move that weight, tripled, over to Mateo. He couldn’t-

“-ance! Lance! You spaced out there, everything okay?” Aleja again, bless her heart. Lance gave a weak smile.

“Everything’s fine.”

...

Everything was not fine. Halfway through dinner, Lance had convinced himself that the merman was just a hyper-realistic stress-induced lucid dream. Fifteen minutes after that he was having a silent breakdown because _mermaids were real oh my_ **God**. Now, finally alone in his room, Lance didn’t know what to think. He was pretty sure what he had seen was real, but if that was the case it meant that there was a mermaid named Shiro in the waters around his house who very much wanted to eat him. Which was something Lance wasn’t sure he could take in. It also meant that he wouldn’t be swimming anytime soon, so there went any semblance of a coping mechanism he had.

He had artfully dodged his family’s queries about his physics test over dinner (“How did your test go?” “Mmmmm nice weather we’re having today.”), but he couldn’t avoid them forever, and anyway something else was sure to come up. 

He thought a little harder then, and the bottom of his stomach dropped out. With all the excitement, he hadn’t made the connection. But oh no- Keith. Poor Keith. Poor Pidge. Keith had probably gone swimming for who knew what reason, and the merman had gotten him. Those teeth weren’t playing around. Oh God. And now it was after him. Lance’s breathing sped up, and he desperately tried to keep himself from panicking. It didn’t work.

Twenty minutes, two glasses of water, and one very large plate of cookies later, Lance was calm. Very calm. Had reached levels of inner peace previously unknown to humankind. Calm. Yeah, right. He pulled out his computer and got to work.

There was nothing solid. Sure, Lance found hundreds of websites. Thousands of myths. Piles and piles of stories but nothing solid, nothing useful. Nothing that could help him. Despite that, there were two kernels of advice that repeated themselves throughout most of the stories. Pretty much: stay out of the goddamned water and wear earplugs, depending on the type of mermaid that’s causing trouble. Which didn’t help him at all really, since Lance was pretty sure Shiro wasn’t a siren, and he _needed_ to be able to swim. 

There were also the websites that talked about the likely origins of stories about mermaids. If that killer was a manatee, Lance would eat his shoe. It was 1:00 in the morning before he looked up and stretched, back cracking. He was pretty sure he had found all the information there was on mermaids, and at this point would be a zombie the next morning for school. Oh well, nothing for it. He took a minute to just stare at the ceiling, letting his thoughts wash over him, letting himself contemplate how his life had turned around so completely. 

A day ago his biggest problem had been school and tests and keeping his grades up, and here he was now trying to get rid of a merman. He was over the initial shock reaction, but he still couldn’t take it all in. It would be better to just go to sleep and let his unconscious process it all for him. So he dragged himself through his night routine (mermaids were no excuse for bad skin), hauled himself into bed, and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. He dreamed of sharp teeth and purple scales and drowning.

...

Morning came far too quickly. Lance was a mess. Too little sleep pressed bruises under his eyes and scrapes littered his palms from his scrambling yesterday. Aleja poked her head into his room to make sure he was up and even she winced.

“Lance, what happened yesterday? You looked like you’d seen a ghost when you came home and frankly you don’t look any better now. Did you sleep at all last night?” Her concern washed over him and he almost spilled all of it to her right then and there, but some sense of self preservation held him back. She’d think he was crazy or hallucinating or both. So he shook his head instead. 

“I’m fine, Aleja,” he said, and his voice sounded thin even to his own ears. The look she gave him said that she heard it and clearly didn’t believe him, but she didn’t push, and he was grateful. 

 

School was awful, as expected. He could barely stay awake through it, and the dark circles under Pidge’s eyes said she hadn’t gotten any sleep either. Hunk was the only one who seemed alive, and he was disgustingly cheerful. He wrapped them both in a hug when he first saw them, and they melted into it. When they broke away and Pidge saw him, her face held a look of respect. 

“How long?” she asked. 

“Five hours,” he replied. 

She gave a sharp nod. “Three.”

“No way. How are you even still alive?”

She gestured to her face and the rat’s nest of her hair. “Does it look like I’m a part of the living?”

Lance considered her, then shook his head. “Nope. You look pretty dead.”

“Thanks.”

Hunk broke in. “Are you guys saying you only got three and five hours of sleep? That’s almost nothing, how can you expect to function?! And your health!” 

Pidge looked at Hunk’s aghast face and gave a dry snort. “We can’t all get a solid eight hours of sleep like _someone_ here.”

Hunk looked affronted. “Excuse me, _nine_.” 

“Lance, tell him that’s ridiculous. I can’t even look at someone who got nine hours of sleep.”

Lance turned to Hunk. “That’s ridiculous,” he repeated, deadpan. Hunk sighed. 

“Let’s just get to class.”

School passed in a blur after that. The physics room was painful to be in at first, but he pushed it out of his mind. He pushed a lot out of his mind, especially memories of a scarred torso and purple scales. At school, amid teenagers and math and grades, the ocean was so far away as to be a dream. He didn’t think. Didn’t let himself think. 

He drifted away in class multiple times, but the teachers either were too caught up in their lectures to notice, or took pity on him and let him sleep. Whichever it was, Lance was thankful. 

Walking home, Lance was only a little more awake, but the light drizzle on his face brought his brain out of its half-asleep state. He sighed. He wanted to swim. But that wasn’t really an option, now was it?

Lance slipped in the door of his house, intent on grabbing a snack then taking a nice long nap without having to talk to anyone. Of course, the universe hated him, so he wasn’t that lucky. Aleja accosted him on his way up the stairs, hands full of fruit and cookies. She sighed. 

“Hey, Lance, would you mind if we talked a little bit? I feel like we haven’t caught up in a while.” Her sharp eyes missed nothing, taking in the purple under his eyes and the scrapes on his upturned palms. His expression was probably just as ragged as he was. 

“Sure. Can I eat while we’re talking?” He just wanted to sleep, but he couldn’t find it in himself to turn down his sister. As annoying as she could be, she was the closest one to him in his family, and he _liked_ spending time with her. He also couldn’t deny that he needed to talk to someone. Badly. 

“Of course. Lead the way,” she said, gesturing up the stairs. Lance walked to his room and sat on the bed, Aleja following suit. He spread his snacks between them. 

“Okay. Talk.” He started eating. 

Aleja took in a breath. “Lance, honestly, is everything alright? You look like you didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, and I know how much that physics test meant to you.” The look she gave him was searching, and probably only confirmed her suspicions. He didn’t meet her eyes. She continued. “You were spaced out at dinner yesterday. You didn’t come home until really late, and your hands are all scraped up. You’ve been out of sorts since, well, since the weekend actually, but especially yesterday. Our family’s expectations aren’t always… the easiest to bear, and it starts to get overwhelming sometimes.” A sad smile. “I would know.” She gave him another piercing look. “Lance, I’m worried about you.” He didn’t know what to do. She was so caring, would do anything to help. He didn’t know what he did to deserve this. “Lance,” she pleaded. “Just talk to me. Let me help. Please.” And so he did.

He told her everything- well, not everything, but most of it: his insecurities, the crushing weight of his family’s ideals, the score on his test, his scare with the “shark”, Pidge’s friend, the lack of sleep. Nothing about mermaids. Nothing about the cove. Everything but that. And if Aleja sensed there was something he wasn’t telling her, she didn’t mention it. Just let him pour his heart out to her, and when he was finished she reached over and pulled him into a hug. His breath caught in surprise, but then he relaxed into it, and may or may not have let a few tears escape. 

“Oh, Lance,” Aleja breathed, and they stayed like that for a good long while.

...

The next day was Saturday, and Lance woke up early. He had fallen asleep right after Aleja left, emotionally and physically drained, and slept right through dinner and the rest of the night. Which meant he felt wonderfully rested this morning, but was up at the unfortunate time of seven o’clock. He usually slept in until the much more reasonable time of eleven thirty or twelve. What was he supposed to do with all this time?

He padded down the stairs to grab breakfast, mindful of the creaking floors in the early morning silence. The quiet was nice, but he found himself twitching before long. He wasn’t used to such a lack of sounds, especially in his own home. And if Lance was being honest, part of his twitchiness stemmed from curiosity. Sure, there had been a bloodthirsty merman in the cove the last time he had visited, but would it still be there if he went back? And he didn’t have anything he really needed to do today… 

Lance blamed the silence and unfamiliarly early morning for what he did next. He bargained with himself as he slid down the trail to the cove, a bag with a book, homework, and food slung over his shoulder. _It’s not like I’ll go in the water, right? I’ll be safe. And it’s just this one time, to make sure I’m not crazy. I won’t even stay long._

He reached the cove, and it was just as he remembered, albeit without the loudly crashing waves. The ocean was glass in the early morning, a light fog still hanging in wisps over it. He clambered up to the rock he had sat on before, set his bag down with a thump, and began reading. He scanned the lines while keeping his ears sharp for a splash or ripple. It took five minutes of reading the same paragraph over and over for Lance to realize the exercise was ultimately useless. The merman wouldn’t care if he was reading or not, and it would be better if he could watch for signs, too. Besides, he wasn’t taking in any information. 

He stared at the water, sinking into the same sort of daze he fell into whenever he swam. It allowed him to think of nothing beyond enjoyment for the sights and sensations around him. Lance couldn’t tell how much time passed before a pattern of ripples spread over the water of the cove. A head with a sharp-toothed grin popped up and stared at him. Lance couldn’t even muster surprise. He gave a little wave. 

“Back again, are you? Ready to go for a little swim with me?” The merman fluttered his fingers back at him as he spoke, tail flicking from side to side under the water. It reminded Lance of the cat his family had when he was very little, tail twitching just before it pounced. He scooted backwards two inches. 

“Yeah, I’m back, but I’m not swimming. I’m just reading.” He waved his book innocently. _So I’m not crazy. That, or my brain is much more creative than I gave it credit for._ The merman pouted, lashes fluttering, beads of water caught in them and- holy shit, how could Lance see his eyelashes from here? They must be ridiculously long and… yep, his eyes weren’t playing tricks, the merman had definitely gotten closer. He backed up another two inches. 

“So your name’s Shiro?” he cut the merman off before it had a chance to speak. The merman’s eyes narrowed, as if trying to figure out his angle. It plainly hadn’t had to deal with its prey initiating conversation before. 

“Yes… And what might yours be?” 

Lance debated the intelligence of telling his name to a denizen of the deep who probably, strike that, _definitely_ wanted to eat him, for a whole five seconds. “The name’s Lance. How’s the ocean? It must be pretty cold this time of year.” The merman, no, Shiro, stared, utterly bemused. It obviously could not believe Lance was encouraging small talk, of all things. _Probably used to just hearing ‘oh no please don’t eat me,_ ’ Lance thought snidely. 

“The ocean is… fine… I don’t notice the cold. Of course,” he started up again determinedly, that shark’s smile back on his face, “You wouldn’t either if you came and joined me. The cold wouldn’t ever bother you again.” 

Lance snorted. “Oh _please_ , of course it wouldn’t, I’d be dead. Not that I’m opposed to that, mind you, after my last test. That grade would make anyone want to dive to a watery doom.” 

Shiro’s face was back to bewilderment. “You mean… you want to be eaten? You’re very odd.” 

Lance waved his hands with an air of dismissal. “Well, no, of course I don’t want to die, it’s just a figure of speech. But my test grade was absolutely awful, it’s enough to make me at least contemplate that invitation.” Then Shiro lunged, and Lance was reminded that he was chatting with a predator. 

Shiro had been creeping closer to shore throughout their conversation, slowly enough that Lance hadn’t noticed, and he paid the price for it. Shiro _threw_ himself out of the water and up onto the rocks with a powerful thrust of his tail, heaving himself higher with his arms. His body twisted, hastening him along. His snapping mouth came far, _far_ too close to Lance’s leg, and he scrambled backwards with a very undignified yelp. 

Lance looked at Shiro’s snarling face, heart thundering. The water welcomed Shiro back with barely a splash, and he dove under and did not resurface. His pulse sounded loud in his ears, and he sat there, frozen, for a good long while. A seagull’s screech pulled him out of his paused state, and he sat up from his half fallen position and stretched out his legs. He stood. He picked up his bag, grabbed his book. Walked up the path. Only let himself untense when he had a thousand paces distance and a solid wooden door between him and the sea. Lance slumped against the entryway wall. What had he gotten himself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my [tumblr!](http://randomfangirllaughs.tumblr.com/)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get some Shiro POV in this chapter! Also a heads up, there is some blood in this chapter, nothing too graphic but it's definitely there. If you want to skip it, it is a pretty large and plot-relevant part, but give me a shout out in the comments and I can provide a summary at the end. Enjoy!

The boy had come again. Despite seeing what I was capable of, despite knowing I wanted to eat him, he still came back. They always did. Many of them took longer to return, but all were eventually driven back to the sea. _Compelled. Cursed. Sad. Lonely. Wanting._ Whatever the reason, I took them in the end. And this boy would be no different.

~

He came again. Even after I almost had him, even after his fear permeated the whole cove, so strong I could _taste_ it. And yet he came again, skidded down that path that led up, up, up. He didn’t have his bag with him this time, just climbed on a rock (a different one from usual, further up the cove), and started talking. Talked and talked and talked, about nothing, about everything, as if he knew I was here, tucked behind a protruding piece of cliff. He spoke of human things I didn’t understand, school and grades and a future, and of universal things I did: friends and fear and sadness. I listened. It crossed my mind to show myself, have another go at inviting him to join me in the water, but I did not. It was odd. For all the others I would have.

I simply let him speak his mind, and when he was finished he let silence gather in the cove like a flock of gulls. I was ready to go, to swim to him or dive down deep, when he spoke again. The gulls scattered. 

“Hey, I know you’re probably not even here, and even if you are you definitely don’t care, do you? Hell, you’re a goddamn carnivorous merman, why would you care? But it helps a lot for me to talk to someone, even if they’re not actually here and want to eat me. It helps that I don’t have to worry about making Hunk or Aleja concerned. Thank you, Shiro.” Then he left. 

I was stunned. I did not move for the time it took the boy, _Lance_ , to climb up, up, up, out of the cove, and vanish from sight. People had said many things to me in years past, but none had yet thanked me. I pushed whatever emotion that instilled in me to the back of my mind, then removed myself to go hunt fish. 

He came back again. And again. And again. And each time, he would sit, and talk. And I would listen. I learned about him: his favorite foods, his friends’ names, his family and the weight they pushed on him. More importantly, I learned _him_. His tics, his tells. I came to know when he had failed one of his human “tests”, and when he had done well. I came to know how the rocks from the path fell, and what they heralded: if he was angry or sad or joyful. I came to know the sound of scree running down a steep trail, such an earth sound. I came to look forward to it. 

It was odd. Very, very odd. All of the other humans I had made into victims over the years, and this was the only one who truly captured my interest. After the first time, I made it known that I was there, and listening. Only a few half hearted advances were made to draw him into the water. Most days he came, I simply _was_. Let him chatter at me with no interruption on my part. Allura thought I had gone mad. 

Oh yes. I wasn’t alone, but Lance did not know that. Granted, our pod was small, as most were, mermaids being terribly territorial, but the three of us were close-knit. Well. Four of us, now. Allura had brought him in, glared, dared any of us to challenge her claim to the dark-haired boy. We did not. If one of us chooses to do such a thing, it is serious, and respected. It does not happen often. But it was amusing to watch the boy swim shakily with new fins. Allura still thought me mad. 

“You’re wasting so much time getting him into the water, just grab him and be done,” she complained. “All you do is spend your days staring at him and listening to him talk, do some goddamn talking of your own, for once. All you’d need is two minutes to weave your song, and BAM!” Allura smiled with very sharp teeth. “You’re done. Wouldn’t need to hunt for days after a meal like that.”   
I scowled. I had no reply. She was right, of course, and she knew it. She also knew there was more to it than that, and I was grateful she didn’t push and make me look deeper. Denial made a lovely home, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t staying as long as possible. 

So I went to him every day, for that was how often he came. Sometimes it was in the early morning, before he went to his “school,” (no fish involved, unfortunately), and sometimes it was late, as dusk was just beginning to steal over the sky. Never when it was dark. Prudent, as he probably would break his neck on the trail or the rocks, and I wasn’t keen on losing ~~him~~ my prey. Sometimes he would talk for ages, and others he would simply sit in silence, or pop in only for a very short while. Every time, I was there. 

Until Lotor and his pod came. 

Then I was not.

...

Lance didn’t know what he was doing. He was visiting the cove every day, making excuses to his family, friends, teachers. Shiro, who had at first been so bloodthirsty, now seemed quieter. Calmer. Of course, Lance suspected he was up to _something_ , but for now he would listen, and occasionally make comments unrelated to the water. It was almost as if he was a friend. It hurt, still, not being able to swim, but talking to Shiro had become cathartic and was almost as good.

He was missing school to do it. He came in late, sporadically left early, and generally cared less. His teachers didn’t know what to do; he had been a good student before. And, as he was mostly able to keep up, they cut him slack. 

His friends were slightly miffed he didn’t have as much time for them, but Pidge and Hunk were in most of his classes, and none of them had much free time to start with, so they accepted that he was just busier than normal. 

He was missing family time, too. Dinners, movie nights, and on one memorable and never-to-be-repeated occasion, Mateo’s soccer game. Aleja’s face was constantly scrunched up in worry looking at him. His mom was exasperated. Mateo didn’t notice much, the sweet kid. And his Nana? She kept shooting him hard, suspicious looks, but brought nothing up.

And so it all went fine, going to the cove, staring at the sea, talking to Shiro. Juggling the different aspects of his life. It all went fine, until- 

“Lance, we need to talk.” His Nana pulled him aside, and she was not amused. “Love, I need to know. Have you been going to that cove?” 

Lance’s eyes slanted downwards. He couldn't quite look her in the face; he knew he was disobeying her by seeing Shiro. The fact wasn’t changed that the sense of shame he felt didn’t quite override his desire for the merman’s attendant ear. 

“No, of course not. I wouldn’t go against your wishes, Nana.” _Much_ , he thought. 

“Are you sure?” She grabbed his arm in a grip like a vise. “Because there are worse things in that cove than sharks. Things that are much more dangerous, things I wouldn’t want anywhere near my grandson.” 

Lance’s head shot up, eyes huge. She couldn’t possibly know, could she, not about Shiro-

His Nana’s sharp eyes hadn’t missed a thing, and he tried to play it off as surprise at what she had said. “Worse things than sharks? What are you talking about?” 

She humphed, but let go of his arm. The narrowness of her eyes betrayed the fact she didn’t believe him, but Lance was grateful she was willing to let it rest. Still, he had to know if she really knew about the merman. 

He stepped away, turning and calling over his shoulder, “I’m going out!” His Nana watched him go, but didn’t move to stop him. His rush down the path to the cove was nowhere near graceful, but still far more steady than the first time he had attempted it. He needed to ask Shiro if he had known his grandmother, but there was no way he was that old, right? 

When he finally reached the shell-sand of the cove, he was panting and full to the bursting with questions. But maybe he misconstrued it. Maybe that wasn’t what his Nana had meant after all. Maybe- His questions cut off. The water was empty. 

Not empty as in _Shiro’s waiting just around the curve of the cliff or waiting under the water to surprise me_. Empty as in _Shiro is not here_. And it threw Lance off. Because Shiro was always here. But maybe Shiro was just late, or busy, or- or. Lance sighed. He’d probably grown tired of his constant chatter, and gone to find easier prey. He couldn’t say why this revelation made him as disappointed as it did. He should be happy, right? No more carnivorous merman stalking him, no more worry over swimming. No more Shiro. 

That made Lance pause. Not the unhappiness, but the _strength_ of it. He shoved it aside. Okay, he’d probably have to take a good deep look at it _sometime_ , but now he allowed himself to wholly freak out over Shiro being gone. He was probably just out doing mermaid stuff, though, right? He’d come along shortly. So Lance sat on a rock. And waited. And waited. He waited until most of Saturday was gone, waited until the sun began to sink in the sky. And still Shiro did not come. He went home. Walked through the door, up the stairs, into his room. Flopped onto his bed and screamed into his pillow. As soon as he was happy, something always came along to ruin it. His life sucked.

At dinner that night, he didn’t talk. Nobody mentioned his unusual presence, but they did shoot him concerned looks during breaks in their conversations. He didn’t look up. He didn’t want to acknowledge anything, and immediately after he finished eating, he went to his room. Got ready for bed. Laid down, and told himself everything that happened today was now tomorrow’s problem. He fell asleep.

...

The next morning, Lance woke up determined. And angry. Shiro didn’t even give him warning he’d be gone! Obviously he had his own underwater life, but it wasn’t like a quick notice would be hard to give! Whatever. Lance would just go back to the cove again today, and chew Shiro out when he saw him. The house was still and silent, and when he slipped out the front door there was no one to stop him. But reaching the cove- oh, reaching the cove, it wasn’t deserted, and there was blood in the water.

 

It took Lance a moment to see where it was coming from. Because oh- the water of the cove was _red_ , and it threw him off, but when he saw it, the noise that escaped his throat was strangled and raw, and Lance couldn’t think he couldn’t breathe he was choking-

It was Shiro. The blood was coming from Shiro, Shiro who was washed up on the beach, Shiro who was missing an _arm_ , oh _God_ , Shiro whose eyes were closed and still. Lance didn’t hesitate. Didn’t even wonder if this was possibly a bad idea. Just ran forward, dropped to his knees next to him, and pulled Shiro’s human half into his lap. His shirt was instantly soaked with blood. Not only was it his arm, but his face had a slash stretching across the bridge of his nose, and his torso and tail would have a collection of new scars. Lance whimpered. Shiro made no sound. Lance reached for his neck, checking that a pulse was still beating under the skin. It was, faintly, and he let out a sigh of relief when he felt it. Shiro was still alive. 

But Lance didn’t know what to do. He was alive, yes, but for how long? Was his system different from a human’s? How much blood could he lose? Eyeing the blood-saturated water, Lance decided he didn’t want to find out. He pushed the unimportant questions to the back of his mind, knowing wondering about who or what had done this and marvelling at being so close to Shiro could wait. Shiro had obviously come to him for help, and everything else was unimportant. He threw himself into survival mode. 

He needed bandages. And something to disinfect the wounds. Apply pressure, he remembered from the health class he had taken two years ago. Apply pressure on the wounds with a cloth, and the bleeding should slow in fifteen minutes. _Okay. Think, Lance._ He’d need supplies. He was loathe to leave Shiro like this, but he knew logically putting it off or trying to do anything without supplies would only make things worse. Okay. Run up to the house, grab what he needs, then run back down. Elevate the wound in the meantime. Shiro would be okay. He pulled him higher up the beach, and wow was he heavy, before flipping him onto his left side and putting a rock against his back to keep his arm stump elevated. There wasn’t much to be done about the sand, but Lance didn’t have time to worry about that.

With a whispered, “Hold on, I’ll be back soon,” Lance turned and spirited up the path. He had never moved so fast in his life. He only paused, briefly, to vomit into the bushes. With that over with, he steadied himself and was off again. He burst through the door like a whirlwind, thanking every deity ever that nobody was up yet to see his blood covered clothes. Gauze bandages. Medical tape. An old but clean t-shirt of his. Bandaids. Antibiotic ointment. Latex gloves. A bottle of fresh water. A bag to carry it all. His hand-washing job was quick yet thorough.

And with that, he was rushing out of the house. It was like his feet grew wings. All of the loose gravel and stones that normally tripped him up on the trail to the cove weren’t an issue at all. Bushes seemed to leap out of his way. _Save him, save him,_ the very air whispered. The trail opened up, and Lance was at Shiro’s side in an instant, checking, worrying, ensuring nothing had changed. There- the light flutter of his pulse. There- the still bleeding wounds. There- the too-still face. 

Lance got to work. He put on the gloves, then gently rinsed out the wounds, starting with the most serious: the missing arm. Lance tried not to think too hard on that. If he did, he was sure he would panic, and the hysteria threatening to overtake him was held back by a thread as it was. Instead, he methodically cleaned the stump, then covered it with the t-shirt and kept pressure on it with one hand. With the other, he went about treating the other wounds: rinsing them, antibiotic ointment on them when they were clean, then bandages for the worse ones and large bandaids for the lesser. The laceration on Shiro’s face had a row of bandaids marching across his nose, which Lance would have found hilarious under other circumstances.

He left the wounds on Shiro’s tail alone, as they were the most minor and any bandages or bandaids applied simply slipped right off. He did take a moment, however, to marvel at the smooth purple scales. Then it was back to business. It became impossible to apply all the bandages and antibiotic ointment with only one hand, so eventually Lance was forced to move his knee to apply pressure on the t-shirt against the place where Shiro’s arm used to be. 

Once as many of the injuries were taken care of as possible, and the others were at least rinsed out, Lance sat back. It had taken him at least thirty minutes to treat everything, and he prayed the arm wound had stopped bleeding. He definitely did not have enough experience to tie a tourniquet and he was pretty sure he would only end up making it worse. He checked, and thank God, the bleeding had slowed to a trickle. He took the t-shirt off the stump and used most of the remaining roll of bandages to dress it. He couldn’t remember if you were supposed to take off the material used for a pressure bandage or leave it on, so he made his best guess and hoped it was the right one. Clean dressings seem better to him, anyway. He sat back and sighed. He had done everything he could, and still...  
The voice of his old health teacher echoed in his head. _“Even if you do everything right, without professional medical care the victim will likely not survive. Make sure to get them to a hospital as soon as possible.”_ Lance laughed, a little hysterically. Right. Like there were any hospitals that would take a freaking mermaid. God. What was he going to do? 

In the end, there wasn’t much to do. He couldn’t take Shiro to a hospital, and he couldn’t leave him unattended, and on top of that he couldn’t really go anywhere with blood covered clothes. He couldn’t move Shiro for fear of making him worse, and any attempt at bringing him to his house in a kiddie pool would likely be met with extreme hostility. He may be injured, but Lance still had a healthy wariness for those teeth. 

So Lance cleaned up. He gathered the bloodied t-shirt and other used or botched bandages. He packed up the bandaids that had become scattered around in the sand. When everything was in the bag he stripped off the latex gloves and stuffed them in as well. He looked around and took stock of the situation. Shiro was bandaged and still unconscious. The cove was empty, a furrow in the sand where he had dragged Shiro up the beach. Most of the blood had dispersed in the water, but he shuddered to think what would answer the call of that blood. Maybe it would be sharks…

Lance hoped he had done the right thing. Would human dressings on a merman even work? Would Shiro dry up and die because he wasn’t in the water? What had done this to him? Whatever it was, it had to have been scary strong. Shiro was immensely powerful, and Lance was pretty sure nothing could have defeated him easily… 

Lance moved so he was leaning up against the same rock as Shiro, in a position to check on him quickly if he woke up. He looked down at Shiro’s sleeping face. It was so oddly peaceful… The adrenaline in his system was wearing off. He could feel his brain beginning to blur with tiredness, his eyelids growing heavier. He would just close his eyes for a second… And right there, next to an injured, carnivorous merman, on a shell-sand beach in a forbidden cove, Lance fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I had as interesting a health class as Lance. Check out my [tumblr!](http://randomfangirllaughs.tumblr.com/)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a little bit of Allura POV at the beginning that snuck up on me! Also some nice bonding between Shiro and Lance, and Lance realizes something... Merry Christmas and happy reading!

Allura could smell Shiro’s blood. He had gone after Lotor and his pod alone, after they had come sniffing around their territory, encroaching on their hunting grounds. He had gone to drive them off, and now she could smell his blood diffusing through the currents. She told Coran to stay, and left. She had never swam faster than she did just then, following the scent of her podmate. _Please_ , she prayed, _Please_ let him be okay.

The trail led her to a cove, the one she knew he had been spending all his time at, luring the boy into the water. Or so he said. Allura was no expert, but she wasn’t dumb, and she was pretty sure there was a hell of a lot more going on than just predator and prey. Shiro had never taken this long on a hunt, nor ever been as invested in a human. _“I don’t know what you're talking about, Allura.”_ She snorted, bubbles escaping from her nose. Please. 

Then she reached the cove, and she stopped laughing. 

The blood was stronger here, the red tint still not having fully left the water. And there was Shiro, out of the water, leaning against a rock with a human boy leaning on _him_. But- oh, Shiro, his right arm was missing, covered in white gauze. She scanned the rest of him, and while other than his arm he looked mostly complete, the sheer number of bandages was startling. She winced at the row of tan adhesives covering his face, betraying the wound beneath. 

As bad as it looked, though… his wounds were treated. And the human boy… She smiled. The boy had obviously fallen asleep leaning against the rock, but over the course of time had slumped over until he was lightly resting on Shiro. How _cute!_ Shiro looked to be merely sleeping now, too, no longer unconscious, she noted. Allura smiled. She wouldn’t worry now, he was clearly well taken care of. She could tell Coran he was fine. 

She popped her head back under the water, and swam off. She’d give them privacy. And anyway, she had a couple of arm-stealing scaly asses to kick. With Coran, of course. Allura always preferred to win a fair fight.

…

Lance woke slowly. He couldn’t remember where he was at first, and he found it very odd that he was staring into a pair of dark grey eyes. Aleja? No, she had brown eyes… No one in his family had gray eyes like that, or bandaids plastered across their nose, or sharp teeth… Shiro! Lance sat up so fast he was pretty sure he threw his back out of alignment, and then he was scrambling back across the sand, half-formed excuses tumbling out of his mouth. Shiro laughed.

“It’s fine, I’m not going to hurt you. You saved my life.”

Had Lance heard that right? Shiro, the merman who had professed his desire to devour him from day one, had just asserted he wouldn’t hurt him? Lance was stunned. “Ah, thanks?” Then he threw himself back into business mode. “Here, let me check your wounds.”

Shiro watched him go about checking under the bandages and bandaids with a soft, slightly bemused smile on his face. It threw Lance off, seeing such an unfamiliar expression, and it made his cheeks warm. His hands may have been shaking too, just a little. It was weird, okay?! Just because his heart was doing weird things this close to Shiro- oh. Oh. _Oh_. Well, okay then. 

Lance checked most of the wounds, leaving the arm alone, and was surprised to see most were already scabbed over and looked to be on their way to healing. Huh. He’d been asleep for awhile, the sun was on its way to setting, but he didn’t think cuts healed _that_ fast. _Hmm. He probably has some sort of sped-up healing? My first-aid is good, but not that good,_ Lance thought. 

He avoided eye contact with Shiro as he puttered around, and when Shiro asked, “So? Will I live?” in an amused voice, Lance let out an “Eep!” of surprise. 

“Uhh, yeah, you’re looking good. I mean, ah, not _looking good_ , but, like, your wounds seem to be healing well, rather fast actually, hahaha…” Lance was ready to die. 

“That’s wonderful! Thank you so much Lance, really. I didn’t know if you would help me, after, you know, the whole wanting-to-eat-you thing. Um. Sorry about that, by the way.” 

Lance stood up, brushing himself off, resolutely ignoring the pink dusting his cheeks. Shiro was so _cute!_ Definitely not a thought he’d had before about a giant fish-man, but you learn something new everyday. “It’s no problem. And of course I’d help you Shiro, you’re the one who’s been listening to me prattle for the last month. I was worried when you didn’t show up yesterday!”

Shiro looked down, abashed. “Sorry about that, I had to go drive some others off our territory and they turned out to be a bit more than I could handle.” He gestured, slightly pained, to his missing arm. Then his face transformed into an interesting mix of horror, worry, and fear. “Oh shit, Allura’s going to kill me. She has no idea where I am, she’s going to be so mad, I can practically sense her rage from here…” He shivered. 

Meanwhile, Lance was standing dumbfounded. “You mean… there are more of you?”

Shiro paused in his muttering and looked up. “Yeah? Sorry I didn’t tell you, I kind of assumed you knew? You know, cause if there’s one, there’s usually more?” 

Lance sat down, hard. “ _No_ , I didn’t know, there isn’t exactly a procedure to follow for sort-of carnivorous mermaids!” 

“Oh.” Shiro offered a sheepish smile. “Sorry.” 

“It’s fine, it just caught me off-guard. Go on. Who’s this Allura who’s going to kill you?” 

“She’s my podmate, has this gorgeous long white hair and cool glowing markings, her father was a deep sea mermaid, right, but she’s fiercer than an orca. And if you make her worry… well, that’s it for you.” The obvious fondness on Shiro’s face made Lance smile. 

“Do you have any other podmates?” he asked. 

“Yeah, there’s me, Allura, and Coran, he’s the oldest of all of us. Oh, and I suppose that black-haired boy Allura just brought home, too.”

Lance’s interest perked. “Wait, what do you mean? What black haired boy?” 

Shiro shifted uncomfortably. “Well, ah, it happens occasionally that, well, a person of the sea might try to seduce a person of the land into the water, and just, ah, end up straight up seducing them instead.” He wouldn’t meet Lance’s eyes. 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah, oh. So Allura, that ended up happening with her, and it usually goes both ways, right. So she brought Keith home to join our pod-”

He was cut off by Lance gripping his shoulders hard enough to be painful, his face inches away. “Wait, Keith? Black hair, mullet, silly red crop-top jacket?” His voice was urgent. If this was Pidge’s Keith. He’d heard her describe him a thousand times, and if he could give her any peace of mind he’d be grateful. 

Shiro caught on to the urgency. “Yes, that sounds like him. Sans the jacket though, but his tail is red. Do you know him?”

Lance sat back, mind whirling. “No, I don’t, but my close friend does. Everyone thinks he’s dead.” 

“Well, he’s not dead, but I’m sorry Lance, he can’t return to land. The transformation is permanent.” 

“I know, I just… is it okay if I tell Pidge, she’s his friend, is it okay if I tell her that he’s alive, at least? Not how I know, and not where he is now, just that he’s alive? It’s been tearing her up.”   
Shiro smiled softly. “Of course, Lance. It’s good to know he is missed.” 

“Okay. Thank you, Shiro.” The anguished look melted off Lance’s face, and a burden on his heart lightened. Pidge would be so relieved. But still, something Shiro said, about how a human could be transformed… deep in his stomach, something _tugged_. 

 

They sat like that for a while longer, chatting over unimportant things, trading details about their families now that Lance knew Shiro had a family too. It was nice. Before, it had been only him talking and Shiro listening, and while it was cathartic, it was also kind of lonely. This, however, this talking, this real conversation, soothed something in him he didn’t realize needed soothing. And he was pretty sure he didn’t imagine the light blush that stayed persistently on Shiro’s face. But maybe that was just wishful thinking. 

It took him a little bit, but he finally voiced something that had been nagging at him for a while. “Hey, Shiro, do you need to go back into the water? I’m not sure all of the bandages will hold, but the scabbing seems secure and I don’t know how long you can stay out of water.”

Shiro waved it away. “It’s fine, I’m a mammal, not a fish, the only concern is mobility and normal dehydration, and I have you for that, don’t I?”

His heart did something wonderfully uncomfortable at hearing that Shiro needed him, was glad he was there. Lance smiled and leaned back. “Yeah, you do. I will have to go home at some point, though. Also, will you be okay with only one arm? Like, it’s obviously not ideal, but will you be able to survive?”

Shiro nodded. “Yes, it’ll definitely be odd, especially getting used to balancing, but I’ll manage.” 

And then their conversation was cut short, because Lance heard Aleja yelling his name. He jerked his head up, and saw her standing at the top of the bluff above them. Shit. _Don’t look down_ , he begged internally. _Do not, under any circumstances, look down._ She looked down. Her hands covered her mouth. Lance was up and scrambling toward the trail mouth immediately. _Shit shit shit._ He looked back at Shiro, who was twisting in urgency. “Will you be okay? Stay here, don’t try to get yourself to the water, it could tear you wounds open again.”

Shiro nodded, settling down, face still scrunched with worry. “Go, do what you need to do.”

Lance was off again, rushing to stop his sister. _How did it all go so wrong so quickly? He just wanted one goddamn good thing in his life._ And now Aleja would probably try to stop him from going to see Shiro, or she would tell people, or she would tell Nana that he was at the forbidden cove, and that would be the end of that. His heart racing, he heard Aleja calling at the top of the path, shoving bushes aside. 

When he reached her, she didn’t do any of that. Instead, she cried, “Lance!” and wrapped him in a fiercely tight hug. He froze. Her hands swept over him, as if checking he was real, and she was crying. Hard. “Oh my God, Lance, don’t ever do that again, we were so worried, you were missing for the entire day it’s nearly six o’clock now, oh _Lance._ ” Then she went silent, sniffling into his shoulder. Oh. Right. Whoops. He relaxed, and reached his arms around her back. 

“Hey, it’s alright, I’m here, don’t worry,” he murmured, letting soothing nothings wash over and calm her. When she stepped back, her eyes were red and puffy but no longer wet. She also look uncomfortably furious, and when she shoved him he wasn’t exactly surprised. 

“You _idiot_ , Mom thought you were dead or drowned like that Keith boy, Dad organized a search party, and Nana kept muttering ‘I knew it’ when she thought we couldn’t hear! We thought for sure Hunk or Pidge would know where you were but they were just as oblivious as us! What the hell, Lance!”

Lance let her finish her tirade, and he looked down, abashed. “I’m really sorry I didn’t leave a note or anything and I made you guys worry, I didn’t mean to, I swear. There was… a lot going on.” He turned his gaze to the cove. Was it really just this morning he had found Shiro beached and covered in blood? It seemed like so much longer. Wait. Covered in blood. Shit.

He looked down at his stained shirt, and Aleja followed his eyes and screamed. “OhmyGodLancewhathappenedareyouhurttellmenow!” She patted him down, trying to find a wound that would result in that much blood. He pushed her off.

“Aleja, it’s okay, it’s not my blood! Look, look, I’m fine.” He showed off his intact limbs and torso, and then his words sank in. She turned her gaze to the cove. He could see the question forming in her eyes, then forming on her lips. 

“If not yours, then whose?” 

“Um. Don't freak out.” 

“Lance. I saw you from the top of that bluff. Specifically, I saw you and someone who looked like- who looked like-” She couldn’t say it. He kept his eyes to the ground. It was because of that that when Aleja turned and darted down the path it took him too long to respond. He grabbed at her shirt, but she was already past. 

“Aleja, no!” He ran after her. 

She was too far ahead. 

When he caught up, she was already there.

And staring. 

She said, “Oh my God.”

...

Aleja was in the cove. Aleja was _in the forbidden cove_ , and she was staring at Shiro. Shiro, with white bandages covering awful-but-healing wounds. Shiro, with a missing arm. Shiro, with a fucking tail. Aleja was staring at Shiro the merman, and all she had to say was, “Oh my God. “ And then: “Lance, when I said you should get yourself a man, I didn’t mean a _mer_ man.”

Lance was ready to die. Shiro looked immensely uncomfortable. Aleja’s face was slowly transforming to a look of glee. “Aleja, seriously, you can’t tell anyone, especially not Nana. Got it? And he’s not- we’re not- _ugh_!” he spluttered. 

She turned back to him, eyes alight but also recognizing the situation. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret. But Lance, I can’t believe you haven’t told me! Oh, he is gorgeous! And hot.” 

“Aleja!”

“What’s your name?” she suddenly turned on Shiro. 

He was baring his teeth, clearly threatened, but with a conscious effort put them away. There was an awkward pause, then: “My name is Shiro. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lance has told me a lot about you.” 

“Oh _has_ he? All good things, I hope?” Her smile was a thing of terror. 

“Of course. You’re his favorite sister, you listen when no one else does, you’re like home to him.” Shiro’s smile was soft, and fond, and did wonderful things to Lance’s chest. “I’ve actually wanted to meet you for a while.”

Aleja was radiant. “If I’d known about you I’d have wanted to meet you too! What a gem. I’m also currently experiencing an incredible tear in what I thought was the fabric of reality, so I’m going to need some time to process. Also, Lance, everyone is wondering where you are, so we should probably get back. It was lovely meeting you, Shiro!” 

She waved, and that was that. Lance caught her gaze, and hoped she was able to understand his subtle _you go on ahead_ signals. She nodded, and Lance slumped in relief. Thank everything for sibling bonds. She disappeared up the path, and he turned to Shiro with a tired smile. 

“Hey, I’m sorry about that. She got away from me and she had already seen you so… there wasn’t much I could do. Still, I’m sorry.” 

“Lance, it’s no problem. As long as she doesn’t tell, I should be fine. It’s weird, though,” he continued, “meeting a human that I’m not going to eat. Something new happens everyday, I guess.” He shrugged. “But before you go, could you help me back to the water? I’m pretty vulnerable out here on land.” 

Lance mentally kicked himself. “Of course! Sorry for not thinking of that earlier.” And then he was next to Shiro, right next to him, and his heart was beating faster than the exertion could account for. He hadn’t noticed before, but Shiro was warm. And he was blushing again. Great. He had to say, realizing he may have a tiny crush on Shiro was great, but came with a slew of embarrassing side effects.   
He needed to focus. First order: figure out how to get Shiro to the water without a strained back, torn wounds, or indignity on either side. He couldn’t exactly remember how he had brought Shiro up here in the first place. Nice going.

In the end, he hooked his arms around Shiro’s (admittedly very nice) chest, and dragged him down the beach with Shiro pushing with his tail. It wasn’t dignified or easy by any means, but the wounds were still healing and his back was still mostly aligned. 

When Shiro was completely in the water with only an arm anchoring him to the sand, Lance smiled and stepped back. “Bye, Shiro.” 

“Bye Lance.”

“I’ll… see you again?” he said, making it a question. He understood if Shiro didn’t want anything to do with him after this, and it would be fine, it was his choice, he would be totally fine- 

“Of course, Lance. Tomorrow?”

“You know it. See you!” 

Shiro pushed off and disappeared into the drifting currents, and Lance walked up the trail in the gathering dusk. It was odd. He was happy- actually, honestly happy. It was a strange feeling. He wouldn’t mind if it stuck around. 

 

Entering the house was an interesting experience. Aleja gave him her jacket so he didn’t terrify his family and have to explain the blood, and she had gone in first to soften the surprise. Even so, when he walked in he was met with a barrage of questions and tears and demands. His mother yelled at him about how worried he made her before bursting into tears and throwing herself at him. Eventually he was able to smooth things over: he had gone for a walk and gotten lost, but ultimately wandered back which was when Aleja found him. It was weak, but simple enough and he stuck to it. Aleja gave hima wink when he avoided mentioning the cove and dodged the question of if he had been with anyone. His Nana wasn’t fooled. “I knew it,” she whispered at him before pulling him into a tight hug. He let it go. 

When his family had their fill of berating and loving and crying over him, he went upstairs to his room. His feet were beginning to melt into the floor, along with his eyelids. Despite his long nap in the middle of the day, he was exhausted. It had been such a long day. He changed, fell into bed, and was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

…

Lance was seriously beginning to worry about cracked ribs and death by asphyxiation when Hunk finally put him down. “If you ever scare us like that again, I will personally never bake you cookies again, and also probably murder you.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t!” It was Monday, and Lance was unfortunately back at school. Seeing Hunk and Pidge was nice, though. When he wasn’t being crushed or threatened. 

“Lance,” began Pidge, “if you do anything like that again, after Hunk has killed you I'll learn necromancy just so I can revive you and kill you again. Don’t doubt me.” She looked horrible. Even darker bags under her eyes than usual, with eyes themselves still betraying a tinge of red from crying. Lance felt awful. She lost Keith, and her mind had probably gone to the worst possible outcome when he went temporarily missing, too. He had to tell her. 

“Yeah, yeah, guys, I get it, I’ll tell you where I’m going next time. But I’m safe and here and ready to fail Physics, so that’s all that really matters.” 

At his cheery grin Pidge muttered, “Idiot,” but just shook her head and started walking down the hallway with Lance. He caught her sleeve. 

“Hunk, go on ahead, I gotta talk to Pidge for a second.”

“Okay? I’ll meet you guys in class.” 

Pidge turned. “What did you need, Lance? I’m fine, I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” 

“No. That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about- well, not really.” He took a breath, then moved closer. “Pidge, don’t ask me how I know this, _please_ don’t ask me how I know this, but Keith is alive. He’s not coming back, ever probably, but he is alive. He misses you.”

“Lance what-”

“Come on, gremlin, we’re gonna be late to class!” Lance shoved down the hallway without waiting for Pidge to catch up. He didn’t think he could stand to see her face right. He didn’t want to know what she was thinking.

~

I didn’t know what I was thinking. Lance knew Keith was alive- _how?_ Lance didn’t want me to ask how he knew, could he be lying? No, Lance was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a liar. My mind spun too fast for me to catch hold of any one thought for long. Keith was alive. In class, Lance passed me a note without looking. He hadn’t looked at me since he told me, as if he was afraid to see my face, to look me in the eyes. What did he know? I opened the note. _Go down to the ocean alone. He might be there._ My heart stopped. A chance to see my best friend again-

Keith was alive. That was all that mattered.

~

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and as soon as Lance reached home he was out the door again, heart light in his chest. He made sure to leave a note this time, though. He was at the cliff, scrambling down the path, and out into the cove. And there was Shiro, waiting for him.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a pleasant daze. He was able to talk with Shiro, not just at him, and he found that he had so much to say. Shiro did too, and it was wonderful. He learned about the ocean and the currents and what species of fish tasted good and which ones were poisonous, the importance of sea otters, and all the shenanigans that happened as a result of him and Allura being idiots. 

He avoided asking about the others that had trespassed into their territory as long as he could, but in response to his query Shiro said only, “They won’t bother us anymore.” And that was that. Lance didn’t particularly feel like questioning it, and anything that hurt Shiro was better off gone, in his opinion. 

“Oh, also, I meant to ask last time but then everything happened, do you know my Nana?”

“Know your Nana? That’s your grandmother, right? No, I don’t. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, it’s silly, but she’s said some things that made me wonder. She was the one who warned me away from this cove, you know.”

Shiro’s expression turned contemplative. “Huh. I’ll ask Allura and Coran.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent without any serious questions, and Lance found out Shiro’s wounds were healing nicely (“Yeah, I think we do heal faster than humans”), and he sat not on a rock but on the shell-sand next to the water and dipped his toes in, while Shiro lazily tread water a few feet away. It was nice, and peaceful, and Lance could get used to it. 

 

Time passed. He visited Shiro as much as he could, which was nearly every day. School no longer seemed quite as important, but his family’s expectations still weighed on him, and when they seemed liable to crush him, Shiro was there to hold him up. He occasionally brought Aleja with him to visit, and she and Shiro delighted in getting to know each other. There were some understandable reservations, but for the most part things went smoothly. The bandages came off. There were scars, and a lot of them, but none were infected. 

Pidge came to school one day with no bags under her eyes. Her hair was brushed. She was smiling. Lance didn’t ask, and Pidge didn’t tell, but there were footprints leading down to the ocean that weren’t his. 

Things were going well. Lance hardly dared to hope, but nothing seemed so terrible anymore. And Shiro? Shiro was wonderful. If his heart beat a little faster around him, well, no one had to know. Everything was going perfectly. Which meant that when everything went wrong, it was that much worse.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The angst makes a comeback. On a side note, I'm sorry this chapter was so late, things were really hectic for a while there. I was in a small accident and got a concussion and couldn't use any technology for a couple days, not to mention the fact that my phone was almost bent in half :'). But I'm back now, and posting should go on as scheduled! I also cut the last chapter in two because it was hecka long, and there was a nice spot for a cliffhanger in the middle sooo ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. Happy reading!

The sun was out for the first day in a long, long while. Lance lounged on the shell-sand beach in the forbidden cove, shoes and socks off, enjoying the rare warmth. Or the semblance of warmth, anyway. The air was still pale and cold, but the sunlight tricked the brain into thinking the blue sky meant shorts and sunglasses. The semblance was enough for Lance, though. Shiro basked next to him, tail idly shifting from side to side in the shallows. 

“So tell me,” Lance began, “You’re like, half fish yourself. Does that mean you can talk to fish? Could you go up to a shark or a tuna or something and ask how it’s day was? ‘Cause that’d be so cool. You know, I was totally obsessed with sharks when I was younger. Thought they were the coolest things.” He smiled lazily at Shiro, who looked rather offended. 

“You think I can talk to _fish?_ You’re basically half monkey, does that mean you can talk to monkeys?”

Lance laughed. “I stand corrected.” 

“I eat fish most of the time. It’d be incredibly uncomfortable if I could have a conversation with them as I was eating them. Can you imagine?”

“That would make for some awkward dinner conversation.”

Shiro snorted and rolled over onto his back, stretching his arms above his head. Lance looked down. “That reminds me,” Shiro started,” I asked Coran that question you asked me the other day. You know, the one about your Nana.”

Lance sat up straight, scrambling forward. “What did he say?”

“Well,” Shiro cleared his throat, and Lance could see him taking on a completely different persona. He smoothed an imaginary moustache. “‘Nana. Interesting. I have to say, I’ve never met anyone named Nana in my life. That being said, I don’t know if you knew it, boy, but I used to be a bit of a tropical merman in my youth. Shocking, I know! I met a lovely young lady around that time, tried to dazzle her into the water, the whole spiel. Alas, she rejected me! The only one who ever got away from me, wily lady she was. I don’t know if that’s the Nana you’re talking about, but her name was Imelda, if that helps.’” Lance was in tears from laughing so hard. Shiro’s imitation of Coran was very involved, including several moustache strokes and dramatic poses. 

He gathered himself and wiped his eyes. “Yeah, in all seriousness, Imelda is my Nana’s name, and she lived in Cuba when she was younger. That’s so weird to think, that she could’ve met Coran. No wonder she tried to warn me away from the water.”

“It’s strange, though,” Shiro frowned. 

“What is?”

“That she got away from him. That never happens. It’s always either the humans are eaten, or very rarely join us in the water. I’ve never heard of someone escaping that.”

“Well, I’m here, aren’t I?” Something tugged in his stomach. 

“Yes… I suppose that’s true.” The small frown had not left his face. “Still, it’s odd. An outlier.”

“Well, whatever. Now I know. Maybe I’ll ask her about it later.” Lance stretched and lay back on the sand. He let the silence linger and hold, watching the seagulls wheeling above him. After a span of time with only the lapping of the waves and their breathing, Lance spoke up again, something that had been tapping at his mind for a while. “Hey, Shiro, how come I havent met your family? You’ve met my sister, and you’ve told me so much about Allura and Coran, but you haven’t introduced us yet? Why?” 

“Oh.” Shiro looked down. “It’s… a little complicated, but you should meet them soon enough. There’s not really any precedent for a situation like this, but because merpeople are generally pretty territorial around their prey, they don’t often introduce them to others in their pod. That’s not really what’s going on here, but old habits are hard to break.” 

Lance nodded. An acceptable excuse, but he still had the feeling there was more to it than that. Shiro wouldn’t meet his eyes. 

“It’s fine, I get it. I’m just curious to meet Allura, and see her cool glowing markings. And her hair. She sounds pretty.” Lance waggled his eyebrows before bursting into laughter. “Maybe,” he forced out between breathless giggles, “Maybe she’ll fall madly in love with me. That’d be a plot twist.” 

Shiro snorted, but there was a hard cast to his eyes. “Good luck, she’d eat you alive. Not to mention Keith.” 

“Oh, right. Carnivorous and taken. Sounds perfect.” The last few giggles forced their way out of his stomach and he flipped over to stare at Shiro, close enough to see the drops of water caught in his eyelashes. “Real talk, though, do you think your family will like me? I know I’m not exactly amazing, but will they at least be able to tolerate me? You know, since I’m your friend and all.” _But you want to be more than that, don’t you. You want so much._

“Lance, what are you talking about?” Shiro pulled himself up the beach from the shallows so he was much closer. Lance could see every detail of his face, the sparks of light playing off his sharp teeth and the beads of water in his eyelashes. “You _are_ amazing, I don’t know what you mean. My pod will absolutely love you, how could they not? You’re practically perfect.” Then he blushed as if he had said something he shouldn't have. 

Lance didn’t notice. There was a crushing weight on his chest. Shiro thought he was perfect. Shiro didn’t think he had any flaws. He’d find out soon enough. And once he realized Lance wasn’t perfect, he’d be even more disappointed, he wouldn’t want anything to do with him, that would be the end of it- 

“I have to go.” He sat up and turned, brushing sand off his clothes. He left before he could see the devastated expression on Shiro’s face. 

“Okay. Bye, Lance.” His parting words echoed to an empty cove.

…

He went back the next day. Of course he did. He had gone home, and wallowed, and maybe cried a little, and felt the pressure on his chest, choking his lungs. It hurt. With Shiro, he was the only one who held no expectations of Lance. But now… he thought Lance was perfect. He was flattered, of course, but if, no, _when_ , he failed those expectations, Shiro would leave him, and Lance would be worse off than before, not to mention heartbroken. He’d realize how fake Lance was, and he’d hate him, along with all the others.

But he still went back. Of course he did. What else could he do? It was Shiro. Even if it ended up that Shiro resented him, he still wanted to spend as much time with him as he could. And he had left so abruptly the day before… 

He went back to the cove. Of course he did. Or he tried. Halfway to the top of the trail, he was stopped by Aleja. 

“Lance! Lance, wait.” She ran up behind him. “Oh, are you going to see Shiro?”

He turned. “Yeah, I was. What to you need?” 

“Hunk is at the door. He and Pidge wanted you to hang out with them. He asked you yesterday, remember?”

He hadn’t remembered. What was he supposed to say, though? ‘Sorry, I forgot because I was too busy breaking down over my insecurities.’ Yeah, no thanks. Instead, he said, “Thanks, Aleja. It just slipped my mind, I’ll go meet them now.” 

“Great! I can tell Shiro, if you like?”

“No, it’s fine.” Shiro probably wouldn’t want to see him anyway. Or care.

He started back toward the house, leaving Aleja standing on the trail, looking after him. He greeted Hunk, who was probably able to tell something was wrong, but thankfully didn’t push. 

“Do you want to head back to my house? Pidge is waiting there, and we were gonna chill out and watch movies or something,” Hunk asked, throwing an arm around his shoulders and squeezing. 

“Sure, dude. And you can stop looking into the house now, Mateo’s at a soccer game. Sorry, man.” 

Hunk sighed in disappointment. “Darn.”

“I swear, the only reason you’re friends with me is so you can see Mateo.”

Hunk laughed. “It’s true, you’ve uncovered my villainous plot. How did you know.” 

“I hate to say it dude, but you’re kind of obvious. You’d make the worst villain.” 

“Cruel! How could you say such a thing?” He draped himself over Lance, and the dramatically offended look on his face made Lance laugh until there were tears in the corner of his eyes. 

“Mom, I’m going to Hunk’s!” he called into the house, before turning to Hunk. “Let’s go.” 

 

He spent the day with Hunk and Pidge, and it was nice. He was able to push all thoughts of mermaids and inferiority to the edges of his mind. Pidge was upside down on Hunk’s couch when they arrived, a bowl of popcorn on the cushion beside her. “We’re having a movie marathon,” she stated. Lance and Hunk snickered.

“Ok, Pidge. Whatever you say.” Lance collapsed on the couch next to her, Hunk on her other side. Pidge righted herself and they all smushed together. “What movies are we watching?” She shrugged. 

“We could try Disney movies?” Hunk suggested. “I have, like, all of them.” There was a round of assent, and he went to put the first one in. 

The next four hours were spent throwing popcorn at the screen with indignant shouts of “You’ve only known him for like, two minutes!” and “He’s a furry, get out of there Belle.” Lance was smiling. The pit of his stomach still hurt, but he was able to push it aside to laugh with his friends. Until Hunk went to put the next movie in. 

“The Little Mermaid? Really?” 

“Come on, Lance, it’s a classic.” Hunk didn’t even spare him a glance as he continued starting the movie. Pidge didn’t say anything. They settled back to watch, and Lance’s heart was pounding inside his chest. He didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh or cry. It was so wrong. These soft mermaids, with their finless tails and human teeth and _benevolence_ , were utterly ridiculous. Not to mention the clothes and the singing. He and Pidge did not meet each others eyes. But watching Ariel and Prince Eric fall in love, something pulled in his stomach. Hearing _Kiss the Girl_ , something pulsed in his chest. 

“You know,” he spoke up, “in the original Little Mermaid story, the prince marries another girl and she dies and turns into seafoam. This Ariel needs to step up her game.”

“Oh shut up, this one is romantic.”

“She’s like, sixteen. She needs to chill,” Pidge butted in. 

“I’m just saying, this one shouldn’t complain.”

“She can’t complain, she literally doesn’t have a voice.”

“Shush,” Hunk hissed. “I’m trying to watch Ariel get married to the _love of her life_ , okay?”

They continued watching, and moved on to a different Disney movie. Still, Lance’s sense of ease was gone. He ended up leaving late, and going back to his house in the dark left him time to think that he didn’t really want. He’d go back to the cove tomorrow, and face Shiro, and his disappointment. Though, if Shiro became used to being disappointed by him early, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much later. He fell asleep dreaming of Shiro’s smiling face and scales like nebulas.

…

Shiro wasn’t in the cove. When he stepped off the trail, Shiro wasn’t waiting for him. But someone else was. Oh, someone else was waiting for him in the water, someone with flowing white hair, with glowing markings, with a carnation pink tail. Someone with sharp, bared teeth, and a formidable expression on her face. Someone who smiled when she saw him, and oh, it was terrifying.

“So you’re here.” 

Lance sat down, hard. And far up the beach. “I’m guessing you’re Allura.” It was not a question. 

“That’s me.” Her expression made some deeply buried instinct in him scream _run_. 

“Um, why are you here? Where’s Shiro?” He searched the water, trying to see if Shiro was in the water behind her. 

“Well, that is the question. Where is Shiro?" Her voice was savage. "I know, but I sure as hell aren’t going to tell you. He doesn’t know I’m here, but I decided to take it upon myself to come here to meet you. You know, to find out what the _fuck_ you were thinking.” 

Lance was left dumb. “Uh, what? What do you mean? What I was thinking when? Where’s Shiro? Is he hurt?”

“Is he hurt? Is he _hurt?_ He’s fucking heartbroken! Are you an idiot? I didn’t think Shiro liked idiots, but here we are.” Allura had gotten progressively louder, before reverting back to hissing the last words. 

“Wait wait wait back up _what_. Why is Shiro heartbroken? And what would it have to do with me?” The rest of her words sank in. “Shiro likes me?”

Allura stared, completely silent. Then: “Oh my God. You are an idiot.”

“Seriously, Allura, help me out,” Lance pleaded, leaning forward. “I have no idea what’s going on. I know I didn’t come yesterday, but I’ve missed days before and it’s fine. Oh- is he mad at me because I left early?” He scrunched up into a ball. “I didn’t mean to, I just- I needed to go.”

“I had to see my podmate’s, my _brother’s_ , heartbroken face when he came back two days ago. You not visiting yesterday devastated him. He thinks you hate him. I’m not happy.” Even against that declaration, she seemed to have calmed down. “Tell me what happened when you left early. Let me figure this out.” 

“Oh, um, okay. We were talking, and it was nice, and I asked about when I’d get to meet you, and I was worried you guys might not like me, but then Shiro said not to worry because I was perfect.” He buried his face in his arms. “I’m not perfect. I left because oh- I don’t know, I didn’t want him to see I wasn’t what he expected.” He didn’t look up. 

Allura’s “Oh,” was soft enough to be almost missed in the crashing waves. She let the silence extend for a little longer, then spoke up. “There has been,” she announced, “a misunderstanding.” 

Lance looked up. “What do you mean?”

Allura had a look of contemplation on her face. “It’s not my secret, but he thought you were rejecting him. I think you two need to have a good long talk about your feelings. I’m tired of seeing him pining and heartsick. Not to mention of his denial.”

“What- I- _what?_ He thought I was rejecting him? He’s pining? But that would mean- that would mean-”

“Go home, Lance. I’ll tell Shiro to be here at noon tomorrow.” Allura flipped and dove, tail smacking the surface of the water before going under. 

Lance sat stunned. Everything happened way too fast to process. His thoughts were rushing too fast through his mind to catch hold of, but slowly, slowly, a smile spread across his face, wider than he thought possible. Shiro liked him. He stayed in the cove for a good while after that.

 

Lance rode the high of his feelings through the rest of the day, and well into the next morning. Unfortunately, that was when his overthinking kicked in. _Maybe that isn’t what Allura meant. Maybe there was some misunderstanding._ That would be just perfect, wouldn’t it? It was perfectly likely that it was someone else he was pining after, or Allura meant in like a friendly way- 

No, it was fine. Shiro liked him. Shiro was pining after him. He’d never had anyone even have a crush on him before, this was entirely new territory. _But why would he like you?_ an insidious voice whispered inside his head. _He only likes the idea of a perfect you._

_Shut up_ , he told it firmly. Still, he worried. But he’d find out today, he’d talk to Shiro today, and he’d see where it went from there. He couldn’t stand the suspense. His nervous energy bled out of him in small ways, fingers tapping too fast on the table, eyes that couldn’t rest on anything, legs bouncing constantly. It culminated into his mom asking him what was wrong, and he replied with a weak excuse, vaulting out of his seat at 11:30. He didn’t want to be late. 

His Nana accosted him on his way out the door. “Lance,” she said. He stopped. “Lance, I know I can’t stop you.” Her eyes were burning when he looked up. “But be careful. Please. However they may seem, they are not gentle or kind. I could not stand to lose you, love.” 

“I know, Nana.” He didn’t contemplate the words that were practically a confession, just turned and was out the door, heart pounding wildly. He was going to see Shiro. 

The day was clear and bright, the sun warming the thin air. He flew down the path, the scree not slowing him down one bit. He burst into the cove and Shiro was there. The air smelled of salt. The barnacles on the rocks caught at his eyes. The smooth cliff caught at his eyes. Shiro caught at his eyes. For the first time, his head was not fully out of the water. Only his eyes peeked out from above the surface, hair floating around his head. 

“Shiro,” he breathed. Shiro gave a little wave, but didn’t come any closer. He walked down to the water, squatting down at the waveline. “I talked to Allura yesterday. She said some pretty interesting things. After thoroughly chewing me out.” He huffed out a laugh, smile soft. “I think we had a little misunderstanding.” 

Shiro swam closer, not rising any further out of the water. Bubbles trickled up from his mouth as it moved, and he looked embarrassed. He lifted his head. “Yeah, I think so. I- well, Allura didn’t tell me anything, but she said I was wrong and I don’t know what to think-” 

“You were wrong,” Lance cut him off. “I wasn’t rejecting you. I didn’t even realize- well,” he let out another soft chuckle, “I guess if I had been thinking I would have, but um, what you said, about me being perfect, it’s hard y’know, cause I don’t feel like I’m perfect, and just that pressure overwhelmed me, and-”

Shiro lurched toward him, eyes wide, arms pulling him half out of the water. “Nonono, I didn’t mean that at all! I didn’t want to put pressure on you! I mean, I’ve heard you talk about all your insecurities before, it just kind of slipped out, I didn’t think, I’m so sorry. I just,” he stuttered, “I just think you, with everything, even with any flaws you might have, I think you’re perfect. I- I really like you.” Lance had never seen anyone so bright red, and he was pretty sure his face wasn’t much better.

“I- I don’t know what to say to that. I really- I really like you too. I guess, I never thought you’d think the same way. Are you sure it’s not just that I helped you with your arm and stuff?”

“I’m sure. You saved my life, Lance, and that forced me to take a good look at my feelings, but they were there before that.” 

“Oh. Okay. Well, um, neat. Neat, that’s very neat.” 

Shiro laughed, and it was breathless. He hid his face in his arms. “Yep. Neat,” came the muffled response. 

“So, uh, what happens now?”

“I guess we just go on as normal? I have no idea. I’ve never- never done this before.” 

“You know,” Lance started, “I, uh, I’ve never dated a fish-man, but, uh, it might be nice if I could, you know, like, give you a hug?” His voice was a tiny squeak by the end, and he didn’t think his face could get any redder, but here he was. 

“Oh.” Shiro’s voice was a high-pitched squeak too. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, that’d be nice.” 

“Okay. Well, it’s impossible for you on land, and that’d be a bit awkward anyway, so how should we do this?” 

“Well,” Shiro’s voice was very quiet, “you could come into the water with me? Only if you want to, of course. And I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, I swear.” 

If Lance was honest with himself, he wasn’t that surprised. He always knew it would come down to this. How could it not? “Okay. I guess you were right.” He smiled a cheeky smile. “I am joining you in the water, someday.”

“Ha. Yeah, you are.”

He slipped off his shoes. Pulled off his socks. Tugged off his shirt. (He pretended not to hear Shiro’s squeak or see him duck his head briefly under the water.) Stepped forward, and felt the cool water around his ankles. The day was warmer than usual and sunny, but the water was still chill. It didn’t bother him. He’d gotten used to it in the years he’d lived here. Cold water alone wasn’t going to stop him from swimming. 

He took a breath, and dove. The biting water knocked the breath out of him, but it took only a short time for his limbs to become numb to it. Still under water, he opened his eyes. A flash of grayish skin, smooth purple scales sliding across his vision. Shiro’s face filled his view, a huge smile on his face. He waved. Lance laughed, bubbles burbling to the surface. He expected some hint of hesitation to be lingering in his limbs, but there was not an ounce of it in his body. Shiro wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. 

They swam. Eventually, Lance needed to go up for a breath, and he broke the surface gasping and spluttering, treading water as Shiro followed him. “I’ve missed this so much! Thank you, thank you!” He turned, and there was Shiro, next to him. 

“My pleasure. How about that hug?” 

Lance laughed, and threw his arms around Shiro. It was a bit awkward, sure, trying to tread water with no arms, and keep his legs out of the way of Shiro’s tail, but it worked. Shiro put his single arm around Lance, and Lance’s heart fluttered. He pulled back after a spell, and laughed again to see Shiro’s vibrantly red cheeks. 

“Look at you! You’re blushing!” 

“Shut up, so are you! And I can’t help it, you’re adorable.” 

Lance was buoyant. His heart couldn’t take anymore, and his blood felt _effervescent._ His face hurt from smiling. “Come on,” he cheered, and dove. It was perfect for another five minutes. He stayed close to shore, but grew bolder with Shiro’s teasing and companionship. Inching closer into deeper water, he turned and stroked toward the mouth of the cove, slipping toward the left side of the cove as he did. That was a mistake. 

The first tug came on his fingertips. He frowned. That was weird, not something that usually happened. Then he broke the surface, and the tug was on his whole body, and the walls of the cove were slipping by, and his only thought was _shit._ He’d been swimming for years in the ocean off the coast. He knew about beach safety. He’d read about them, hell, he’d even had courses that mentioned them, but he’d never been caught in a rip current himself. He found he really, _really_ did not fancy the feeling. 

Still, he took a breath, and tried to keep calm. _Stay calm, and swim sideways. Don’t try to swim against it._ He began to kick sideways to the pull, but had the chance to only get a couple inches before Shiro was there. And oh, Lance could have told him _I’m fine, maybe just a little help would be nice,_ but he didn’t have the time. Because Shiro was there, and Shiro was strong, and Shiro was pushing, pushing, pushing, tail powerful enough to propel them out of the current in only a couple fractions of a second. 

To propel them farther in a second. 

To push them farther, faster, perpendicular to the rip flowing out to sea.

To drive them directly into the forbidding wall of the cliff.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally finished! Happy New Year, and enjoy!

Lance’s first impression was _pain_. He was on the beach, Shiro next to him, but he couldn’t fucking do anything, because his shoulder hurt too damn much, oh _God_. He whimpered, the sound escaping his mouth before he could stop it. He slowly became aware of Shiro talking, voice running quick quick quick over his ears. He couldn’t tell what he was saying. It was muffled, and it took far too long for him to realize it wasn’t because of anything external.

Shiro’s voice came slowly into focus. “Lance! Lance, talk to me, are you alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I only wanted to help! Lance, please!”

_I’m fine_ , he wanted to say, but his mouth wouldn’t move and he couldn’t get enough air and he was in too much pain he couldn’t **think.** He gradually came back to himself, Shiro’s worried face above him. “...Shiro? What happened?”

“Oh thank God, Lance, I’m so sorry, you were caught in a rip current and I tried to help but the cliff-”

“It’s fine, just my _shoulder_ , it hurts, I don’t know what to do-”

It was bad. They were both panicking. Shiro couldn’t do anything to help, being confined to the water, and Lance couldn’t help himself, his left shoulder the concentrate of too much pain to even contemplate getting up. It was probably dislocated. The knowledge didn’t help him.

“Shiro, call for Aleja. She-” he gasped as he accidentally moved his arm, sending a flash of agony from his shoulder. “She can help.”

Shiro’s tail was thrashing so hard the waves were foaming. “She can’t hear me from here! How can she help you?” 

Lance caught Shiro’s face with his uninjured arm. “Listen to me. Getting Aleja to help is the only way. You can’t help in the water and I can’t help myself. _Please_ , Shiro.” 

“How, though?” His words trailed off. “There’s a beach next to your house, isn’t there.” It wasn’t a question. After all, it was the first place they had seen each other. After a quick affirmation from Lance, he was gone. 

And Lance was alone. 

His Nana was right, after all. This cove really was dangerous, or unlucky, or both. First Shiro, bleeding out on the beach, then him, shoulder screaming and likely dislocated, in the exact same spot. It was his first time swimming in so long, and this was how it turned out. _And Shiro_ , his brain whispered. Look what he promised, and look what he did. 

_No_ , he wanted to say. _No, he didn’t mean to hurt me. He only wanted to help._ There was still a part of him that remained unconvinced, insidious, playing the devil’s advocate. _He’ll probably just leave you here_ , it said. _He has you right where he wants you._ He pushed it away. Shiro would come back for him, Aleja with him. He would be fine. A dislocated shoulder wasn’t even that bad, right? Painful, sure, but not life-threatening. He would be fine. 

He waited. He fell into a sort of daze, letting the minutes tick by only half-aware. The waves lapped at his feet. The gulls screeched. The bushes along the trail rustled. The air smelled of salt. Then: an irregular pattern of wakes. 

Shiro had returned. He hadn’t come alone. But it wasn’t his sister. 

It was his Nana. 

 

He experienced, then, an incredible separation of reality. It was like the day Aleja had first pushed past him to the cove, except more so, because this was his _Nana_ , who had warned him away from this place since day one. He would be lying if he said he didn’t try to struggle to sit up or hide from her. 

She wasn’t angry, though. Just went to her knees beside him and took his face in her hands. “Oh, love, what did I tell you. You didn’t believe me, though. I know what that feels like. Don’t worry, I’m here to help.” Her voice was soft, as one might talk to a wounded animal. He was reminded, vividly, of the first time he had touched Shiro, unconscious and covered in blood that soaked into his own clothes.

Shiro, now, was lurking offshore, only his eyes above water. They were trying to convey a message, but it was one Lance couldn’t decode with most of his brain preoccupied with his Nana and his shoulder. She helped him up, and part of him marveled at her strength, old woman that she was. 

“I’ll be fine,” he said as they started their slow way back up the trail, and his Nana did not condemn his words by pretending they were for her. They reached the house, and his mom’s hands went to her mouth. Aleja, as it turned out, was not home. Out with a friend. Or grocery shopping. Or both. It was unclear. 

The next two hours passed in a blur. They drove to the emergency room, his mom’s knuckles white on the steering wheel. His grandmother stayed to look after Mateo, who was home with one of his soccer friends. The doctors popped his shoulder back into place, put his arm in a sling, gave him medicine and a care sheet, and sent him on his way. The pain abated. He would have to face people eventually, he knew. He went home and slept.

…

When he woke, it was dark. He made his way downstairs, and was greeted by Aleja wrapping him in a bone-crushing hug. “Lance,” she whispered. She led him to the couch, and he was disquieted to see his mother and grandmother in the room as well. He sat.

“Lance,” his mom began, and he felt his stomach drop. The immediate concern was past, and now the questions would begin. He braced himself. “What happened? Nana didn’t tell me anything, and I’d like to know how she knew to help you. She didn’t go with you wherever you went originally. And now that we’re on the topic, where _did_ you go?! You’re always off on your own, and it hasn’t gotten better, even since the day you got lost. I’m your mother, I should know where you run off to!”

She ended her tirade, and Lance couldn’t meet her eyes. The day had been too full for him to muster up any energy. From confessions to hospitals, and now to draw up some semblance of the truth. “I’m sorry. I was being stupid, and I slipped and fell, and tried to catch myself with my hand. I think that was what dislocated it. Nana heard me calling for her.” He begged his Nana with his eyes to not say anything. _Please, I can’t lose this. Please._

She heard. “I assume that’s what happened. He was nearly all the way up the bluff, but my ears have always been rather good.” Pride, worry, not a hint of the lies she was telling.

His mom sighed. “Okay, I’ll accept that, but dear, please try to be more careful. Hospital bills are nothing to sneeze at, and your health is the most important.” She swept out of the room, planting a kiss on the top of his head. The clattering of pots and pans from the kitchen revealed she was starting dinner. 

Aleja and his Nana stayed. They did not look amused. “Okay, Lance, what really happened? If you only fell, I’ll eat my shoe.” Aleja was serious, but curiosity colored the edges of her voice.  
He looked down. “I went swimming.” 

A gasp, accompanied by a noticeable silence.

“And do tell, what would prompt such an idiotic venture?” His Nana’s voice was as dry as the Sahara. “I thought I warned you that the people of the sea are not gentle. That cove is dangerous.” 

“It’s… Shiro. He wouldn’t hurt me.” He looked up, pleading with his Nana to understand. He only realized he was crying when he felt the tears wet and drip off his cheeks. “It was fine, I just got caught it a rip current, it was my fault. He was,” he sniffled, “he was only trying to help, I swear.” He felt himself caught up in Aleja’s arms, soothing noises breathed into his hair. “I can’t lose this, please.” 

“Oh, love. What have you done.” His Nana knelt next to him, eyes infinitely sad.

“It’s fine! He’s not going to eat me, and anyway, you escaped, didn’t you?” 

His Nana sat back abruptly, Aleja turning to look at her, confused. “What does he mean? Nana, did you know about the mermaids?”

She frowned. “I did. I warned you, remember? But Lance, how do you know that, specifically?” 

“I asked Shiro.”

His Nana cut him off. “Shiro, is that your merman?”

He nodded. “Anyway, I asked Shiro because you had said some things that made me wonder, and he asked his pod, and then told me that one of his podmates, Coran, knew someone named Imelda in Cuba when he was younger. And that she was the only one who ever got away from him.” 

His Nana had flinched at the name Coran, eyes wide. “Impossible,” she muttered. “Coran is in your Shiro’s pod?” At Lance’s affirmation, she continued. “I knew him, yes. He seemed kind, silly, harmless. Tried for six months to entice me into the water when I was much, much younger. Then my family moved, and distance ensured I never saw him again.” She was ashen. “I almost died because of that. They work their magic on you, you know. Weave their song, make you think it’s your idea to keep seeing them. Then, suddenly, the water looks too good to pass up, and you’re in and you’re dead. It was near that time when we moved. The shock made me go to the nearest body of water myself. I almost drowned in a lake. As friendly as they seem, the people of the sea are not kind.”

They were all ashen after that story. The silence made a home in their hearts. _She almost died at the hands of a man Shiro quoted as goofy and ridiculous._ He shuddered. “But, Nana, that doesn’t sound like Shiro at all.” He looked up at Aleja’s words. 

“It’s true,” he added, face scrunching. “He stopped trying to coax me into the water after the first little while. He just listened, and then after I saved his life we started talking, but he never suggested going into the water. I was the one who wanted to, today, and he didn’t kill me! I was in the water for a half an hour before I got caught in the rip current, and only then did he accidentally hurt me.”

“You saved his life?” A beat.

“Uh… yes? His arm got torn off by a rival pod, and he came to me for help. Actually, uh, that was why I was missing for that day. I wasn’t lost, I was helping him. That’s when Aleja found out about him.” 

“You saved his life.” Not a question this time. “And he didn’t kill you.”

“Yes.” 

“No.” And then she left. 

Aleja and Lance exchanged some very confused looks. “What was that about?” he asked, and she just shrugged, equally baffled. “Maybe she needed time to process such a different experience?” 

“Maybe…”

~

My grandson. I would have to say goodbye to my grandson. I had to leave, to process. The time for mourning wasn’t here yet. But it would be soon.

~

Lance prayed Shiro would be there when he went to the cove. Yesterday had been a disaster. The dislocation wasn’t terrible, but it’d need time to heal and the sling would have to stay on for few days. The first time they swam together, and it ended like that. Shiro was probably expecting an apology. It was his fault, after all, for not seeing the rip current and making them slam into the cliff. And what if Shiro had gotten hurt too, and he hadn’t noticed? He’d feel so guilty, and Shiro would try to wave it off, but it’d be bad-

Thankfully, Shiro was there. He pulled himself out of the water the moment Lance appeared, eyes huge. “Lance, are you alright? I’m so sorry, Lance, I didn’t mean to, I swear!”

He crouched down beside Shiro, hesitating before wrapping an arm around his back. What a pair of armless fools they made. Shiro froze, then slowly, slowly uncoiled the tension in his body and laid his head briefly on Lance’s knees. “I’m okay, they just had to pop my shoulder back into place. It was dislocated, you know. But it’s fine, it just needs to heal is all. Thank you, Shiro, you were the one who helped me from being swept away in that rip current, and you went for help for me. I know you didn’t mean to. You wouldn’t hurt me.” He ended by placing a kiss on Shiro’s forehead without thinking. 

Lance was pretty sure Shiro had fainted. Or at least broken, because he wasn’t moving and his face was as fiery as the sunset. Then Lance’s brain caught up with him, and he joined Shiro in his new life as a tomato. “Ahhh sorry! Sorry! I didn’t mean to- I wasn’t thinking- sorry!” His spluttering was cut off by Shiro determinedly wrapping his arm around Lance and planting his own kiss on his cheek. He needed a tombstone. It would read ‘Here lies Lance, murdered by his fishy maybe-boyfriend giving him a kiss on the cheek’. 

“Okay?”

“Okay,” he squeaked. 

A lull passed as they both processed, then Shiro spoke up. “I’m sorry I brought back your grandmother instead of Aleja, I went to your beach but your Nana was walking along the sand and Aleja wasn’t anywhere in sight, so I just went for the option that would bring you help the quickest. I hope I didn’t get you in trouble.”

“Hey, it’s fine. We had a little talk, but it all went okay. Really, thank you Shiro.”

“Right. My pleasure.” He was still blushing. 

Someone cleared their throat behind them. Lance looked over Shiro’s shoulder and choked. “Uhhh, Shiro?” 

“Well, as much as I hate to interrupt this sweet bonding moment, your darling sister is here.” It was Allura, white hair floating cloudlike in the water, a smirk on her face, much at odds with the last time Lance had seen her. 

Shiro whipped around so fast that Lance winced and touched his own neck. “Allura! What are you _doing here_?”

She shrugged, an effortless movement. “I wanted to meet Lance when I wasn’t angry. I followed you and thought this would be a good time.” She waved, and Lance tentatively waved back. She still made a frisson of unease run through him, but she was Shiro’s sister and podmate, and he was willing to be friendly. 

“Nice to meet you, Allura. Or, meet you when you don’t want to kill me, anyway.”

She laughed. Her teeth were very sharp. She said, “You know, Shiro didn’t want me to meet you.”

“What? Why not?” He looked at Shiro, who was clenching his teeth and held an expression of a man facing his doom on his face. “Uh, Shiro?”

“He thought I would embarrass him over his _cruuuush_. Unfortunately,” she sighed, “he beat me to it and embarrassed himself.”

It was Lance’s turn to laugh. The frisson of of fear he still felt evaporated. “I mean, we embarrassed each other, and I’m pretty sure I embarrassed myself too, so I think we’re even. You know, when you don’t want to murder me, you’re kind of cool.”

“And when you’re not breaking my brother’s heart, you’re kind of cool too.” They smiled at each other, grins that Aleja might have described as “shit-eating”, or perhaps “trouble”.

Shiro muttered, “This is the worst day of my life.”

“Aww Shiro,” Lance cooed, “aren’t you happy we’re getting along?”

“That’s what scares me.”

“Don’t be afraid, babe,” he said, pressing his mouth to the top of Shiro’s head. 

“You broke him!” Allura, delighted. 

“Hm. Are the pet names too much?”

“Considering how red he is, I’d say work up to them.”

“Agreed.” 

Shiro made a muffled screaming noise into Lance’s leg. 

 

They spent the late morning getting to know each other, before Lance stretched and moved Shiro from where he was draped over his lap. “I’d love to stay, but I have school tomorrow and I have so much homework to get done.” 

“Okay, see you later!” Shiro dragged himself back into the water, and he and Allura turned and dove at the same time, leaving nothing but ripples to betray their passing presence.

He walked up the trail carefully, as balancing was harder with one arm in a sling, and found he couldn’t quite banish the smile stretching over his face. Sure, maybe he and Allura didn’t start off on the right note, but he was pretty confident that wouldn’t stick. She seemed cool, and getting to know her would be fun. There was something he wanted to ask her… but it could wait. He had homework to do.

…

“What did you do now.” The sweet, caring voice was Pidge’s, accompanied by a deadpan stare. Even Hunk looked amused rather than overly worried.

“I fell and dislocated my shoulder,” he sighed, knowing sympathy would be scarce. He was right. Hunk put his head in his hands and groaned, and Pidge laughed. 

“Nice job. Everything okay?” At least she was a _little_ caring. 

“Yeah, it’s just gonna take a while to heal.” Half the reason they were so unconcerned, he knew, was that if anything serious happened they would have been notified by his family. They hadn’t been, so a little ribbing was allowed. 

They headed to class, still snorting over Lance’s mad skills, when Pidge caught his sleeve. “Hey Lance, can I talk to you for a minute?” 

“Sure Pidgeon, what’s up?

“One, if you ever call me Pidgeon again I will physically fight you, don’t doubt me, and two, what really happened to your arm?” 

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb, Lance. You can only dislocate your shoulder by falling if you try to catch yourself and hit the ground _really_ hard. Just tripping wouldn’t do it. But you don’t really do any sports other than swimming, so what was it?” 

“I… yeah you’re right.” Pidge would be able to see through excuses; he wouldn’t even try. “I didn’t trip and fall. I,” his mouth curved up into a small smile, “I went swimming.”

“And?” 

“And nothing. I went swimming, and dislocated my shoulder. That’s it.” He started walking down the hallway, hands in his pockets. “Come on Pidgeon, we’re gonna be late.” 

“ _Lance_. Hey wait! _Lance!_ ” 

 

Lance could see Pidge casting him pissed off glances all through AP Physics. Sure, he hadn’t told her all of the truth, but she was smart. She’d figure it out. He absentmindedly doodled on his paper as he listened to the teacher lecture, and looked down, surprised, to see he’d created a mangled version of Shiro’s tail. He smiled, soft, thinking of Shiro’s cute blushes and smiles, his scars, every one of them holding a story, his one arm and the way it wrapped around his waist… Shiro seemed more real than this classroom ever did. 

His daydreaming was interrupted by the teacher telling them to split off and work in groups, Hunk hurrying over to him. “Do you want to work together? Also, what did you do to piss Pidge off? She seems angrier than usual.” She smoothly flipped them off, but walked over to work with them just the same. 

“I called her Pidgeon. Alas, it seems she scorns my wonderful nicknames.” 

“Dude, your nicknames are pretty awful. But in this case, as it’s Pidge, I think it’s acceptable. Sorry, gremlin.” 

“Rude, Hunk. Not you too.” 

Also, Lance,” Hunk leaned forward. “What were you thinking about earlier? Or should I say _who_? You had this dopey smile on your face, you were totally daydreaming.”

Pidge whipped around so fast Lance nearly shit himself. “Does Lance have a _crush_?” 

“No! Of course not!” 

“This,” Pidge declared, “Is the best day of my life. Who is it.” 

“It’s nobody, you gremlin, because I don’t have a crush!”

“You’re lying.” Hunk looked at Lance, eyes full of glee. “He’s lying, Pidge. Pry it out of him, I want to know who.”

“Hey, that is so not fair! You can’t just team up on me!” 

“Watch us.” Then Pidge saw his paper, and everything went quiet. She grabbed it out of his hand, and Lance wasn’t quick enough to stop her. “What is this?” Her eyes, of course, were on his silly doodle: Shiro’s tail, distorted but unmistakable. 

“I- it’s nothing Pidge, give it back.” 

“Guys? What’s going on? Weren’t we just trying to find out Lance’s crush?”

“One second, Hunk, Lance has some explaining to do. _What is this?_ ”

“It’s just a doodle, Pidge please, give it back. It doesn’t mean anything, don’t-”

“ _Of course it fucking means something, he’s my best friend!_ ” She was shouting now, and the classroom was loud, but not loud enough to disguise it. The teacher began to walk toward them. 

“Pidge, no it’s not, it’s not Keith, I swear. I’ll explain later, okay?”

Then her face transformed, and she whispered, “Swimming,” but the teacher was hovering over their shoulders so they all pretended to get back to work. The rest of the class period passed in silence, with Hunk looking at them both like they were a bomb primed to explode. It was true, in a way. 

“Explain,” she hissed, as soon as they were out in the hall and Hunk had waved goodbye. 

“Pidge, when I told you what I told you, about your friend, I asked you not to question it. I’m asking the same thing now. It’s not Keith, but it is someone that I… that I care for, and it could be bad if I told. I’m sorry.” 

“Lance, look at me.” She grabbed hold of his good arm in a vise-like grip, eyes shining. “I just made this connection but… Keith started acting the same way you are now before he disappeared. Be careful.”

“I- Pidge, I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I’ll be careful, don’t worry.” 

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” Then, quieter, when he was almost out of earshot, “I can’t believe Lance has a crush on a fuckin’ mermaid.” He smiled to himself. 

 

The day was almost over when he went to visit Shiro, the sun hanging low and heavy in the sky. The way the light played in Shiro’s hair made his breath catch. “Hey.” Softly. 

“Hey.” The way he said it made Lance’s heart clench in his chest.

“Sorry I’m here so late. School, you know.”

“Yeah.” Shiro’s eyes were luminous, and the sea the color of sunset drew his feet to the edge of the waves lapping high on the shore. 

“Yeah.” He sat, Shiro at his feet with his head on his arm and tail flicking the surf, and let the silence of the waves and the gulls consume them. They did not defile the evening with words. You do not speak when your feelings overwhelm you, you simply are, and as such they honored that. This was not a time for speaking. 

They sat like that until the sun slipped over the edge of the horizon and dusk stole across the land. He had to be home soon, Lance knew. Darkness was not kind on the trail up the cliff. Still. There was a time for everything. He knelt, the pads of his fingers lightly pressing on Shiro’s cheek. Seafoam-soft smiles on both their faces, hesitation long absent. The press of their lips was gentle, delicate, present only in the warmth of skin and the faint taste of salt. It lasted a moment, maybe two, before Lance broke it and stood, eyes only for Shiro. He did not say goodbye, but simply waved, a fluttering of fingers, because the dusk was not a time for speaking either. Shiro’s answering wave was lost in the gathering dark, and all that betrayed his departure was the quiet splash of his tail hitting the water as he dove.

… 

The next day brought a twitchiness in Lance’s limbs he couldn’t still. _Something is going to happen_. It was whispered in the dry school air, in the tension of building clouds, in the blood flickering under Lance’s skin. _Something is going to happen._ It made focusing hard in school, and he was sharply reprimanded for spacing out multiple times. And the end of the day, though, when the tension held, held, strung taut as a tightrope wire, it was far worse. It pounded in his veins, carrying the need to do _something_. Anything. _Something is going to happen._

So he followed it. It was something he had been wanting to do, anyway. He went, not to see Shiro in the forbidden cove, but to the beach in front of his house. His Nana and mother were at one of Mateo’s soccer games, his dad was working, and Aleja was driving her visiting friend to the airport. The house stood deserted. 

The beach was deserted too, until he called. Feet in the water, pants rolled up to mid-calf. It was not Shiro’s name he called. “Allura! Allura, I need to talk to you!” The cry dissipated into the building clouds, and he hoped sound truly did carry farther across water. It did, or maybe she was waiting for him. Her head popped up.

“Lance.” 

“Allura. You heard.” 

“I did. What did you need?” It was phrased as one, but it was not a question. In all likelihood, she already knew what he wanted to talk to her about. 

He didn’t crouch down, and she didn’t swim closer, but the distance was small between them all the same. “Allura,” his voice was quiet, “when did you know? That you’d turn Keith into a mermaid. Or, merman, I guess.” 

“Oh, Lance, I think you know there wasn’t just one moment. But don’t worry, I know what you’re asking. You want to know about the transformation into a person of the sea, don’t you?” He nodded. “It’s something that only happens when both parties truly want it. It’s a commitment, you understand.” She fixed him with a hard stare. “There is no going back; the transformation is permanent. Essentially, you’ll be dead to the land world. You’ll need to relearn everything: how to care for yourself, how to swim, the behaviors that we participate in. You’ll be starting from scratch. It is not something to do lightly.” 

She took a breath. “That being said, it is an act of love. You’ll gain a new life, a new family. You won’t be a soft human; you’ll have all the benefits of being one of us. You’ll be with your loved one. And if what I say holds any weight, it is worth it. At the end of the day, though, everyone is different, and everyone must decide for themselves.”

“Right. Thank you, Allura. I- I don’t know what to do, I need to think it over.”

“Of course. You must be sure you truly want it.”

“Oh- one more thing. Would Shiro want it, do you think?” His voice was deliberately casual. 

“That is something you would need to ask him. But for what it’s worth, yes, I think he would.” And she was gone. 

Lance wandered back to his house, thoughts tumbling through his mind. His family would mourn, but- he would be free. And Shiro. Oh, he didn’t know what to do. But he had time. Had forever to think it over, because Shiro wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

The storm didn’t break. The clouds, the tension that had been building all day, didn’t release. The air just got muggier, the taste of it more electric. They rarely ever saw thunderstorms, but it was shaping up to be a big one. The feeling had subsided, but was still there when Lance crawled into bed. _Something is going to happen._

… 

School was a quiet affair, and Lance should have known it would prelude something critical. A turning point, if you would. His visit to Shiro was stayed by homework, and he had dinner with his family early. Which meant that as he helped her with making it, his mom wanted to talk.

“So, Lance. You’re getting older, and the time is getting closer. Have you thought about what colleges you’re going to apply to?”

His stomach plunged. “No, I haven’t yet. I don’t really know what I want to do.” A nervous laugh. 

“Lance,” his mother sighed. “You really should start planning ahead. You’re smart enough to do anything you want, you just have to work for it. We can help you get started, if you like.” 

“Sure. I’ll think about it.” Dinner that night was a quiet affair, too. 

 

He went to the top of the bluff to clear his head. The long grasses, faint smell of salt, and quiet rustling calmed him. The storm boiling overhead didn’t detract from it. He didn’t know what he wanted to do. He was just skating along, doing his best to fulfill his family’s expectations, faking his way through difficult classes. He didn’t want to leave for college, to face those responsibilities and choose a path he wouldn’t hate but would still make his family proud. He didn’t want to leave for college. He didn’t want to leave, full stop. _Shiro._

If he left, went somewhere far away like his family was pushing him to do, if he even went an hour away, he wouldn’t be able to see Shiro. Life would swallow him up, and he wouldn’t be able to talk to Shiro, to stay close to him. 

And that was the crux of it, wasn’t it? He didn’t want to leave, and Shiro gave him a reason to stay. He loved the ocean, and he loved- 

Well. Not yet. He didn’t _love_ Shiro, but he liked him a lot, and he could feel the first tendrils of maybe-love unwinding in his chest. He didn’t love Shiro yet, but with time he would. 

Time was a luxury he didn’t have. He thought he had all the time in the world to make the decision whether he wanted to join Shiro, but his mom had reminded him that he didn’t, really. And maybe he was just scared to face it, but if pushed to a choice, he knew what he would do. All this time had been building to it, after all. And if he was honest, really honest with himself, it was a decision he had already made. Even before he went to Allura, even before his mom started talking about his future in real terms. _Keith started acting like you are right before he disappeared,_ Pidge had said. He huffed a laugh. Guess she’d been right. 

The storm broke that night. Winds howled, rain pounded, and lightning lit up the sky. The waves crashing against the shore were loud enough to hear from the house. It was furious, and wild, and did not abate until the early hours of the morning. It found its way into Lance’s dreams, and lent itself to him in the form of new resolve. 

 

It didn’t happen immediately. He stayed a few days, acutely aware of his time ticking out. He spent time with Shiro, talking to him, testing the idea. They didn’t kiss again, but it was alive in the air between them, and Lance knew there would be time for that later. He passed his time on land memorising every detail, drinking in the faces of his friends, family, teachers. Commiting to memory the way the inside of his house looked, the glint of sunlight on trees, the feeling of earth under his feet. 

He hung out with his family, laughed with his friends, and resolutely pushed away lingering doubts. It would be okay to miss them. That didn’t mean he would let it color his resolve. He loved his friends. He loved his family. But they would move on without him. 

He fixed in his heart Hunk’s warm laughs, Pidge’s scathing remarks, Aleja’s wicked smiles. Some things he didn’t need to memorize. He already knew them by heart. School lost its permanence. Everything had a clock, and time was almost up. He didn’t rush himself, though. He lingered, and let his life settle into his bones. He wouldn’t forget.

… 

His family, around the dinner table. They were all talking, loud, sometimes over one another, but lovingly. Together. He helped clean up, and when it was finished he knew it was time. Knew it in his bones, blood, breath. _Something is going to happen._

Before leaving, he made a circuit around the house. Talked to everyone, said goodnight. Made sure to hug them all, made sure to say goodbye in his own way every time. Ruffled Mateo’s hair. Smiled with his mom. Laughed with his dad. Talked to his Nana. Hugged Aleja. And to her, only her, did he whisper, “Goodbye.” 

“Lance, what?” 

“I have to go.” He went up the stairs, and when he saw the entryway was clear, he slipped out the door. The night was clear. The storm had used up its fury, leaving only a few wisps of cloud still in the sky. The moon was full, and bright enough he didn’t need any other light to make his way down the trail to the cove his Nana had forbidden long, long ago. 

“Shiro.” 

Shiro, as if he was attuned to the same impulse as Lance, was there. “Lance. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I’m sure.” It didn’t happen immediately. Lance walked down to where Shiro was, at the edge of the waves, and swooped in to give him a quick kiss. They both came away from it blushing. “Congratulations.”

“Hmm?” 

“You managed to seduce me into the water, _and_ straight up seduce me. Not one for doing things halfway, are you?” 

Shiro laughed. “No, I’m just lucky.” The moonlight shimmered on the water behind Shiro and reflected off the water caught in his hair. He was beautiful. 

“Yeah, I guess you are. But I could argue that the lucky one is me.”

“Mhmm.” A lot of staring passed between them, and when Lance felt it had gone on long enough, the wait, all of it, he stood and clapped his hands. The sound echoed in the near-silent cove. 

“Okay! How does this happen?” 

“You have to come into the water first.” He did so, unconcerned at his clothes billowing around him. His shoes he left on the rocks. 

“Right. What next?”

Shiro smiled at him, infinitely tender, and began to sing. And oh, Lance gasped, because it wasn’t singing, it was _singing_ , the kind you feel in the depths of your chest and the soles of your feet. The water pooled around his waist. The chill didn’t bother him at all. 

He could not describe what happened next. There was a tingle, like his blood had changed to champagne and was fizzing through his veins, and his fingers and toes went numb, except he didn’t have toes, and instead of fingernails he had claws, and his vision was suddenly so sharp he could see every pore on the moon’s face. Then everything went fuzzy. 

When his vision cleared, he was floating. He knew, intrinsically, that he had changed. He could breathe underwater with the use of the gills on the side of his neck. His teeth were sharper and he had claws that could be retracted, if he so wished. Oh yeah. And he had a tail. Blue, the color of the open ocean when one floats ten feet below the surface and looks up, with fins along the sides and such power stored in it he couldn’t believe.

He looked to Shiro. His vision was sharper too, and he could see every tiny flicker of emotion that passed over his face. Could see the different grays of his eyes, overlapping and playing off each other. He smiled slowly, then faster, joy overtaking his features. He was effervescent. There was too much to speak, so he simply laughed. And laughed, delight echoing up to the stars, Shiro joining in. Lance pushed himself over to Shiro with one flick of his tail, and wrapped his arms, both of them, around his neck. Then they kissed, long and slow and sweet, with the sky as their only witness. They had all the time in the world, after all. 

When they broke apart, dizzy from lack of air and too much emotion to name, Lance whispered, “I’d like to meet your family now, if it’s okay.” 

“Soon. I’ll introduce you to my pod soon, but give me a little more time with you.”

“That sounds good.” Soft, and full of wonder. 

Then, on some unknown signal, they flipped their tails and dove, and were gone.

~ … ~

Lance, her brother, had vanished. Disappeared into the night with only a whispered goodbye, and she was left to pick up the pieces. With her family, Aleja mourned. She knew, though, knew in whispered conversations with her grandmother, knew in his face before he left, knew in his shoes left carefully on a rock, that he wasn’t dead. Wasn’t dead, but might as well have been.

Three days after he disappeared to the sea, his friend came to visit. The short one, whose other friend had gone missing all that time ago. Pidge. She bypassed the other silent family members, and latched onto Aleja’s shirt with both hands. Her eyes were red, and her lips were chapped. “I know he’s not dead. Where is he,” she had asked, and Aleja could only point to the ocean before both their eyes were filling with tears. 

She cried, with her family and in private, and when Pidge walked into her house with eyes full of terrible knowledge, she cried with her too. She and her Nana comforted each other. They knew, knew where he had gone, knew what he had chosen. She did not begrudge him his choice, but allowed herself to grieve. Her family did not tear itself apart. It shrunk in on itself, and there were moments of quiet and moments of raging, but they did not let it destroy them. 

Her Nana was set, stone-faced and grim-eyed. She spent a lot of time staring at the sea. Aleja couldn’t even look at it. She used to love the ocean, used to swim and row and play in the tidepools, and now she couldn’t even bring herself to acknowledge it. It had taken Lance from her. Lance had willingly let it take him from her. 

But life moved on. The gaping absence in their house slowly healed over, if it never went away completely. Life moved on, and Lance’s friends graduated and went on to do great things. Pidge was a marine biologist and ecologist, using technology designed by herself and Hunk to further her research. Aleja followed her work and occasionally talked to her. They both knew, after all. 

And when Aleja moved away and went to college, when she pushed aside what her family had expected of her and took up the burden because she wanted to and no one else, when she moved to the east coast to study what she willed and see where it took her, when she joined the rowing team, she remembered her brother. She remembered Shiro. 

And when she went down to the beach without her friends one day, when she saw a girl’s head pop up with a terrible grin and too-sharp teeth, she didn’t give it a chance to talk, but turned and left and warned her friends to not swim there anymore. A boy from her ocean science class went missing. 

And one day, when she was back home to visit her family for winter break, and it was snowing, a rare occurrence, she went down to a cove that had lain undisturbed for years. She sat on a rock, and stared out to sea, and missed her brother. 

A head surfaced. She started crying. He was different, changed, but he was still Lance. Still her younger brother. She talked to him for hours, hours and hours and hours, and when they were finished her grief wasn’t gone, but it was soothed, and that was enough for her. Lance was happy. Lance was free. And, when the second merman appeared and greeted him with a kiss and a smile that spoke volumes, it was clear that Lance was in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been such an amazing experience, I can't believe it's actually done! This is by far the longest thing I've ever written, and it's the first thing I've ever posted, and all of the wonderful responses I've gotten has made the experience even better. Thank you so, so much for reading, it means a lot<3\. If you want to read more of my stuff I have some drabbles on my [tumblr](http://randomfangirllaughs.tumblr.com/) under the "my writes" tag, and I should be posting more stuff on this account soon. Thank you!!

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [tumblr!](http://randomfangirllaughs.tumblr.com/)


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